i?-  -t-  .  .  ' '  I 

PAM. 

Af.T.CA  '  'r\^o.^j\  (Ct  : 

OUTLINE  MIS  SION  ALT  SEBIES. 


A 


_ _ - 

EEV.  JAMES  SIBBEE,  E.B.G.S.. 

Of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 


JOHN  SNOW  AND  CO., 

2,  Ivy  Lane,  Paternoster  Eow,  London. 


SIXPENCE. 


-Win-*-  ■ 


.'.  'A  A  . 


NOTICE. 


This  Pamphlet  forms  one  of  a  Series  of  Sixpenny 
Manuals  now  being  published  on  the  various  Mission 
Fields  of  the  World,  for^use  among  all  Denominations  of 
Christians. 

The  Manuals  are  prepared  by  Authors  thoroughly  con¬ 
versant  with  their  respective  subjects.  They  are  entirely 
unsectarian,  embracing  the  Missions  of  aU  Denomina¬ 
tions  ;  are  concise,  but  popular  in  style ;  and  contain 
information  brought  down  to  the  latest  time.  Illustrative 
Missionary  Maps  are  occasionally  given. 

The  aim  of  the  Series  is  the  more  general  dissemination 
of  Missionary  knowledge.  It  is  hox^ed  that  it  will  prove 
especially  helpful  in  furnishing  information  for  the 
Monthly  Missionary  Meeting,  Missionary  Addi-esses,  &c. 
It  will  be  easy  to  frame  questions  for  the  Sunday-school 
and  Bible  Class  the  answers  to  which  shall  be  found  in 
these  Manuals ;  and  in  many  other  ways  they  may  be 
used  as  Hand-books  by  Missionary  Workers. 


The  following  are  now  ready  : — 

CHINA  (with  Map).  By  Eev.  J.  T.  Geacey,  M.A.,  Member  of  the 
American  Oriental  Society  ;  Missionary  Editor  of  the  “  Northern 
Christian  Advocate,”  &c. 

INDIAN  ZENANA  MISSIONS.  By  Mrs.  Ehma  Eayuond  Pitiian, 
Author  of  “  Heroines  of  the  Mission  Field,”  &3. 

MADAGASCAR  (with  Map).  By  Eev.  J.  Sibeee,  of  the  Loudon 
Missionary  Society  ;  Author  of  “  Madagascar  and  its  People,” 
”  The  Great  African  Island,”  &c. 

TO  BE  FOLLOWED  BY  OTHERS  AT  SHORT  INTERVALS. 


JOHN  SNOW  &  CO.,  2,  Ivy  Lane,  Paternostee  Eow. 


lADAGASCAE. 


BY 

EEV.  JAMES  SIBEEE,  Jun.,  F.E.G.S., 

OF  THE  LONDON  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY, 

AUTHOR  OF 

“MADAGASCAR  AND  ITS  PEOPLE,”  “  THE  GREAT  AFRICAN  ISLAND,"  etc. 


CONTENTS 


-M- 


Statistics  of  Mission  Work  in  Madagascar 
Missionary  Map  of  Madagascar  . 


I.— The  Countey.  page 

Discovery  .  5 

Colonization .  5 

Size  and  Position .  6 

Physical  Geography .  6 

Rivers  and  Ports .  8 

Climate  .  8 

IVIinerals .  8 

Flora  .  9 

Fauna .  9 

n.— The  People. 

Origin  and  Relationships  ....  11 

Divisions  .  12 

Civilization  .  18 

Language  .  14 

Moral  Qualities .  14 

Religious  Beliefs  and  Practices  15 
Knowledge  of  one  Supreme  God  16 

Population .  17 

III. — The  Planting  op  the  Gospel. 
Three  Periods  in  Mission  Work  18 
Early  Plans  and  Attempts ....  18 

Founding  of  the  Protestant 

Mission  .  19 

Work  of  the  First  Missionaries  20 
Favour  of  King  RadiVma  I. . . .  21 
Accession  of  Rdnavidona  I.. .  21 

Success  of  Mission  Work  ....  22 
Commencement  of  Repressive 

Measures  .  23 

Christian  Teaching  and  Y7or- 

ship  Forbidden .  24 

Departui'e  of  the  Missionaries  24 


IV.  —  The  Persecution  of  the 


Gospel. 

First  Persecution .  25 

Special  Periods  of  Trial .  26 

First  Malagasy  Martyr  .  26 

Great  Persecution  of  1849  ....  27 

Visits  of  Rev.  W.  Ellis  .  27 

Persecution  of  1857  .  29 

Causes  of  the  Persecution  ....  30 
Results  of  the  Persecution. .. .  81  | 


Page  3 

„  4 

PAGE 

Political  State  of  the  Country 
during  this  Period  .  32 

V. — The  Progress  and  Extension  of 


THE  Gospel. 

Re-estahUshment  of  the  Mis¬ 
sion  .  33 

Reign  of  Radfima  II .  33 

Accession  of  Queen  Riisohdrina  34 
Steady  Advance  of  Christianity  34 
Accession  of  Queen  Rtoavi- 

lona  II .  35 

Public  Recognition  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  .  36 


Burning  of  the  Idols  in  Imdrin  a  36 
Great  Extension  of  Christianity  86 
Political  and  Social  Progress  37 
Advances  in  Civilization  and 


Commerce .  39 

Improvement  in  Morals .  40 

Abolition  of  Cruel  Customs  and 

Laws  .  40 

Amelioration  of  War  .  41 

Education  .  41 

Literature  .  42 

Bible  Circulation .  42 

Increase  of  !Mission  Stations 

and  Districts .  43 

Church  Organization  .  43 

Church  Buildings  and  Worship  44 

Christian  Life  .  45 

A  Common  Misconception. ...  46 


VI. — Labours  of  Religious  Bodies 

OTHER  THAN  THE  LONDON  MIS¬ 
SIONARY  Society. 

Friends’  Foreign  Mission  Asso¬ 
ciation  .  47 

Church  Missionary  Society  . .  47 
Norwegian  Missionary  Society  47 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of 

the  Gospel .  48 

Roman  Catholic  Missions  ....  48 


STATISTICS  OF  MISSION  WORK  IN  MADAGASCAR 

LONDON  MISSIONARY  SOCIETY, 

IKCLUDING  ALSO  THOSE  OF  THE  FEIENDS’  FOREIGN  MISSION  ASSOCIATION.* 


•OOO'Ol^r  inoq«  01 

Soijnp  sosodmd  n®  joj  suot^ 

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eouTS  ?rmq  siadBqg  jo  loqnini^  ^ 

d 

•sasodmd 

JOJ  SUOT'^ 

-nqu'^uo;^ 

£ 

212 

3,697 

2,954 

3,146 

!■  EAnaviUo 

ibove  totals 
£ 

1  276 

Schools. 

•SUOT!Jliq 

“TJ'JUOQ 

1835, 

Idren 

£ 

397 

817 

ith  ot  (, 

a. 

in  the  ( 

1  ^ 

1  73 

•pTjai 

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1820  and 
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ire  taught 

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25,536 

1  after  dea 
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included 

1  2,114  ' 

•8.ii?IoqDg 

Between 
about  1 
we 

811 

15,837 

36,534 

43,904 

§  Month 
he  Idols  i 

fhich  are 

1  4,645 

ISSIONARY  SOCIETY. 

6,000  1 
to 

7,000 

•s[ooqos 

CO  COOSiNOl  Zl'ls 

rH  f-liOifiCO 

CO  to  00  ®  .2 

•pa^^XnojTQ 

S3[002 

-  1,500,000 

Persecution, 
g  the  burning 

lowing  statist 

1 

•pa^TJinnjTQ 

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JO  SUOpJO^J 
puis  saiqig 

CM  ^;g  ^ 

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9,492 

16,948 

26,217 

1 

,  W.  Ellis 
IT  Yet 

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1  1,663 

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3,000? 

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231,759 

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244,197 

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ISSION  m 

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200 

500 

740 

5,250 

20,951 

58,955 

71,585 

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1  3,358 

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SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 


MADAGIASCAE. 


I.— THE  COUNTRY. 

Madagascar,  although  the  third  largest  island  in 
the  world,  and  situated  not  very  far  from  the  African 
continent,  was  not  seenby  Europeans  until  a  comparatively 
modern  period.  But  it  had  been  already  known  to  Arab 
merchants  and  sailors  for  probably  at  least  a  thousand 
years,  as  well  as  to  traders  from  parts  of  India  ;  and 
settlements  of  these  foreigners  were  formed  in  very  ancient 
times,  both  on  the  north-west  and  south-east  coasts  of  the 
island.  The  celebrated  Venetian  traveller  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  Marco  Polo,  was  the  first  European  writer  who 
gives  any  account  of  the  country,  which  he  termed  Mcujaster 
or  Madeigascar.  But  he  had  no  personal  acquaintance 
with  it,  and  much  of  his  information  is  incorrect,  being 
evidently  confused  with  accounts  of  Zanzibar  and  portions 
of  the  east  African  coast. 

Discovery. — The  first  European  who  actually  saw  the 
great  island  was  a  Portuguese  named  Fernando  Soares,  a 
captain  in  command  of  eight  ships  detached  from  the  fleet 
of  Don  Francisco  d’ Almeida,  Viceroy  of  the  Indies,  and  sent 
home  by  that  admiral  with  spices  from  the  east.  This  Avas 
on  February  1,  1506  ;  and  within  twelve  months  from 
that  date  the  greater  portion  of  the  coast  line,  both  east 
and  west,  Avas  mapped  by  some  of  the  most  celebrated 
Portuguese  navigators,  including  Da  Cunha  and  Albu¬ 
querque. 

Colonization.— The  Portuguese  made  little  attempt  to 
colonize  the  large  island  they  had  discovered,  although 
they  gave  names  to  its  principal  capes  and  to  several  of 
the  rivers.  The  Dutch  paid  some  attention  to  Madagascar 


6 


MABAGASCAR. 


to'vrards  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  their 
settlements  were  so  much  weakened  by  fever  that  they 
were  soon  abandoned.  After  them,  the  French  made  per¬ 
sistent  efforts  for  nearly  two  centuries  to  maintain  colonies, 
or  rather  military  posts,  chiefly  on  the  eastern  coast  of 
Madagascar ;  but  without  much  success,  owing  partly  to  the 
unhealthiness  of  the  country,  but  more  to  the  oppressive 
way  in  which  they  treated  the  native  inhabitants.  English 
colonies  in  Madagascar  were  planned  in  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  but  never  actually  carried  into  effect, 
although  several  books  were  written  at  that  time  on  the 
subject,  urging  their  utility. 

Size  and  Position. — Madagascar  is  situated  almost 
entirely  in  the  tropics,  between  the  parallels  of  12°  and 
25°  30'  S.  lat.  It  has  a  length  of  nearly  1,000  miles  from 
N.N.E.  to  S.S.W.,  and  an  average  breadth  of  over  250 
miles,  the  northern  end  forming  an  irregular  triangle,  with 
an  area  of  about  230,000  square  miles,  nearly  four  times 
that  of  England  and  Wales.  At  the  narrowest  opening  of 
the.  Mozambique  Channel  it  is  divided  by  260  miles  of  sea 
from  Africa,  while  the  islands  of  Eeunion  and  Mauritius, 
450  and  550  miles  distant,  are  the  nearest  lands  to  the 
east. 

Physical  Geography. — The  island  consists,  broadly  speak¬ 
ing,  of  two  principal  divisions  :  viz.,  (1)  an  elevated  moun¬ 
tainous  region,  raised  from  3,000  to  5,000  feet  above  the 
sea;  and  (2)  a  comparatively  level  country  surrounding  the 
high  land,  not  much  exceeding  400  to  500  feet  in  altitude, 
and  most  extensive  on  the  western  and  southern  sides  of 
the  island. 

The  first  of  these  divisions  consists  chiefly  of  Primary 
and  crystalline  rocks,  covered  largely  with  bright  red  clay, 
through  which  the  gneiss  and  basalt  protrude  and  form 
the  highest  points  of  the  island.  This  elevated  interior 
region  is  broken  up  in  all  directions  by  lines  of  hills,  and 
consists  largely  of  rolling  moor-like  country,  generally  bare 
of  wood,  but  with  numerous  fertile  valleys  where  rice,  the 
chief  food  of  the  people,  is  cultivated.  It  comprises  in 
extent  about  a  third  of  the  island,  and  is  evidently  very 
ancient  land,  as  no  stratified  rocks  have  yet  been  dis¬ 
covered  within  its  limits.  From  this  upper  region  of  the 
country  rise  the  highest  mountains  of  Madagascar,  those 


MADAGASCAR. 


7 


called  Ankaratra,  nearly  9,000  feet  high,  about  35  miles 
south-west  of  Antananarivo,  the  capital.  These  high 
lands  are  of  course  the  coolest  and  most  healthy -portions 
of  the  island  ;  and  within  their  limits  the  greater  portion 
of  the  mission  work  already  accomplished  among  the 
Malagasy  has  been  carried  on. 

The  lower  region  of  Madagascar  largely  consists  of  level 
country  at  no  great  height  above  the  sea,  but  broken  up  in 
the  west  by  three  or  four  lines  of  lofty  mountains  running 
north  and  south.  These  plains  are  fertile  and  well  wooded, 
but  they  are  hotter  and  less  healthy  than  the  high  interior. 
They  appear,  as  far  as  yet  examined,  to  consist  of  Second¬ 
ary  rocks,  with  fossils  of  the  Neocomian  age  (between  the 
Chalk  and  the  Oolite),  as  well  as  some  later  deposits. 
These  plains  were  evidently  under  water  during  portions 
of  the  Secondary  geological  period,  leaving  the  high 
interior  land  as  an  island  of  about  a  third  the  area  of  what 
is  now  Madagascar ;  but  there  are  also  indications  that 
during  the  Tertiary  epoch  the  island  was  of  greater  extent 
than  it  is  at  present. 

A  remarkable  feature  in  the  physical  geography  of 
Madagascar  is  .the  existence  of  a  belt  of  dense  forest  which 
surrounds  the  island,  generally  following  the  coast  line. 
This  girdle  of  woods  is  continuous,  except  on  the  north¬ 
west,  where  the  two  lines  overlap  about  100  miles,  leaving 
an  open  space  between  them  of  70  miles  wide.  On  the 
east  side  this  forest  belt  divides  into  two  for  about  300 
miles.  North  of  the  point  where  the  two  lines  unite  is  the 
broadest  part  of  the  forest,  about  40  miles  across ;  but  in 
other  parts  it  varies  from  ten  to  five-and-twenty  miles  in 
breadth. 

Another  point  worthy  of  notice  in  the  physical  geography 
is  the  evidence  of  extensive  volcanic  disturbance.  From 
the  south-east  to  the  north-west  and  north  of  the  island 
an  almost  continuous  line  of  extinct  volcanic  craters  has 
been  traced,  together  with  beds  of  lava,  scoria,  and  ash. 
These  form  the  chief  portion  of  a  belt  of  subterranean 
energy  which  has  its  northeim  extremity  in  Great  Comoro, 
to  the  north-west,  where  there  is  a  still  active  volcano, 
which  is  connected  by  extinct  vents  in  the  intermediate 
Comoro  Islands  with  the  mainland  of  Madagascar.  Very 
marked  and  wonderful  effects  are  produced  on  the  contoim 


8 


MADAGASCAR. 


of  the  country  in  many  places  by  these  plutonic  forces, 
and  the  loftiest  mountains  are  extinct  volcanoes. 

Rivers  and  Ports. — The  water- shed  of  Madagascar  is 
much  nearer  the  eastern  than  the  western  side  of  the 
island,  so  that  few  of  the  rivers  of  the  east  coast  are  of 
great  size.  They  mostly  make  their  way  from  the  high 
interior  country  to  the  sea  by  a  succession  of  rapids  and 
cataracts,  and  sometimes  by  stupendous  falls;  and  much 
of  the  scenery  along  these  rivers,  as  they  cut  their  channels 
through  the  dense  woods,  is  very  fine.  The  chief  rivers 
flow  west  and  north-west,  the  longest  being  the  Betsiboka, 
which,  with  its  confluent  the  Ikidpa,  is  the  great  drain  of 
the  central  province  of  Imerina.  Most  of  the  eastern 
rivers  have  a  bar  of  sand  at  their  mouths,  so  that  hardly 
any  of  them  are  available  for  European  vessels.  Except 
the  deep  inlet  of  Antongil  Bay,  there  are  few  good  harbours 
on  the  east  side  of  Madagascar;  hut  there  many  fine  land¬ 
locked  bays  along  the  north-west  coast,  ending  with  the 
magnificent  harbour  of  Diego  Suarez  at  the  extreme  north. 
Fringing  coral-reefs  surround  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
island,  and  in  several  places  the  growth  of  coral  is  remark¬ 
ably  rapid. 

The  Climate  of  Madagascar  is  much  more  equable  than 
that  of  continental  countries  in  the  same  latitude.  From 
its  height  above  the  sea  and  its  insular  position,  a  large 
portion  of  the  country  has  only  a  modei’ate  heat  in  summer  ; 
while  extreme  cold  is  never  felt,  snow  being  unknown,  and 
ice  very  rarely  seen.  Some  portions  of  the  western  side 
of  the  island,  sheltered  from  the  trade  wind,  do  however 
experience  a  high  temperature  during  the  hot  months. 
The  seasons  are  really  two  :  the  warm  and  rainy  one  from 
November  to  April,  and  the  dry  and  cold  season  during 
the  rest  of  the  year.  Very  heavy  thunder-storms  are 
frequent  throughout  the  rains,  together  with  hail,  which  is 
often  very  destructive  in  its  effects,  and  is  sometimes  ac¬ 
companied  by  waterspouts.  The  coast  is  occasionally 
exposed  to  cyclones,  but  these  very  rarely  ascend  to  the 
high  interior  region.  On  the  whole,  the  climate  of  the 
interior  may  be  considered  as  tolerably  healthy  for  Euro¬ 
peans. 

Minerals. — As  regards  natural  productions,  Madagascar 
is  certainly  rich  in  some  of  the  metals.  Iron  is  abundant, 


MADAGASCAR. 


9 


being  found  sometimes  almost  in  a  pure  state.  Copper 
and  silver  have  been  discovered,  and  probably  gold  exists 
in  parts  of  the  granitic  high  lands,  but  these  metals  are 
not  worked.  Iron  pyrites,  oxide  of  manganese,  antimony, 
plumbago,  rock-salt,  and  nitre,  are  among  the  productions 
of  the  country,  and  in  the  north-west,  beds  of  a  late  coal 
or  lignite  have  been  discovered.  A  fine,  hard,  greyish-white 
stone  suitable  for  building  is  plentiful  in  the  central 
provinces. 

Flora. — Madagascar  presents  a  wide  field  for  research  in 
its  vegetable  productions.  In  its  great  girdle  of  forests, 
about  2,300  miles  long  and  many  miles  across,  as  well  as 
in  the  wooded  portions  of  its  maritime  plains,  and  the 
less  abundant  vegetation  of  its  elevated  interior  districts, 
is  an  immense  variety  of  trees  and  plants  of  the  tropical, 
sub-tropical,  and  temperate  zones.  Numbers  of  the  trees 
are  of  the  hard-wooded  kinds,  supplying  valuable  timber 
allied  to  teak,  ebony,  mahogany,  and  rosewood ;  and  with 
these  are  interspersed  numerous  species  of  palm,  bamboo, 
pandanus,  and  tree-fern,  many  of  them  peculiar  to  the 
country.  Ferns  are  found  in  great  variety,  and  many 
orchids ;  and  although  flowers  growing  on  the  ground  do 
not  exist  in  great  numbers,  there  are  many  flowering  trees 
of  great  magnificence.  Many  valuable  gums  are  j)rocured, 
india-rubber  and  gum-copal  being  important  articles  of 
export.  The  most  characteristic  tree  of  Madagascar  is  the 
“  Traveller’s  tree,”  with  tall  woody  trunk,  and  a  magni¬ 
ficent  crown  of  leaves  arranged  in  one  plane  in  a  fan-like 
shape.  From  this  tree  a  quantity  of  good  water  can 
always  be  obtained  by  piercing  the  base  of  the  leaf-stalks. 
Another  remarkable  plant  is  the  lace-  or  lattice-leaf,  a 
water  plant  having  an  edible  root,  but  distinguished  by  its 
leaf  resembling  a  skeleton  leaf,  being  without  any  filling 
up  of  the  veining  during  all  the  stages  of  its  growth.  Con¬ 
siderable  quantities  of  some  tropical  products  are  now 
exported  fi.*om  Madagascar,  but  ten  times  the  present 
amount  could  be  produced  ;  and  rice,  coffee,  sugar,  cotton, 
hemp,  tobacco,  indigo,  and  spices  could  be  grown  in  practi¬ 
cally  unlimited  quantities,  and  numbers  of  valuable  woods, 
dyes,  drugs,  and  gums  be  obtained  from  the  forests. 

The  Fauna  of  Madagascar  is  not  less  interesting  than 
its  flora,  indeed  in  some  respects  it  is  a  very  remarkable 


10 


MAD  AG  AS  GAB. 


one.  This  is  not  because  of  the  number  or  variety  or 
beauty  of  the  living  creatures  found  there,  for  the  island  is 
remarkably  deficient  in  some  of  the  most  prominent 
groups  of  animals  which  are  usually  seen  in  the  tropics. 
There  are,  for  instance,  no  lions,  leopards,  tigers,  hyjenas, 
or  bears  ;  no  elephant,  rhinoceros,  tapir,  or  hippopotamus 
(although  the  last  is  found  in  a  sub-fossil  state);  no  giraffe, 
antelope,  deer,  horse,  or  zebra ;  and  no  monkey,  ape,  or 
baboon.  But  the  quadrupeds,  birds,  and  other  creatures 
are  peculiar  from  their  highly  specialised  forms,  and  the 
connection  of  some  of  them  with  those  of  countries  at  a 
great  distance  from  Madagascar.  The  fauna  of  the  country 
has  many  relations  with  that  of  South-east  Asia  as  well  as 
that  of  Africa,  and  it  has  affinities  with  West  Indian,  South 
American,  and  even  Pacific  forms.  The  most  character¬ 
istic  animals  of  Madagascar  are  the  Lemurs,  of  which  there 
are  thirty-four  species,  ranging  in  size  from  that  of  a  large 
monkey  to  a  squirrel.  The  most  curious  of  the  lemurs  is 
the  Aye-aye,  which  is  strangely  modified  from  the  ordinary 
type,  and  whose  food  consists  of  wood-boring  larvae,  to 
obtain  which  its  whole  organisation  is  adapted  in  an 
extraordinary  way.  It  is  the  sole  representative  of  its 
family,  and  is  peculiar  to  Madagascar.  There  are  also 
animals  allied  to  the  Civets  [Viverridce),  which  are  small, 
but  of  remarkable  ferocity,  and  found  only  in  the  island  ; 
and  also  peculiar  genera  of  small  insect-eating  creatures 
(Crateffdo?)  allied  to  the  Hedgehogs.  There  are  immense 
herds  of  fine  humped  cattle,  but  it  is  believed  that  these 
have  been  brought  at  a  somewhat  remote  period  from 
the  neighbouring  continent,  as  well  as  the  fat-tailed  sheep 
and  goats. 

Among  the  birds,  although  these  are  numerous,  there 
are  none  of  the  largest  size  or  most  brilliant  colouring, 
but  they  are  remarkable  for  the  number  of  peculiar 
genera  and  species  found  amongst  them.  There  was, 
however,  a  bird  living  in  Madagascar  until  a  comparatively 
recent  period,  which,  if  not  the  largest  of  all  birds,  cer¬ 
tainly  laid  the  largest  of  all  known  eggs.  This  was  the 
JEpyornis  maximiis,  a  huge  bird  allied  to  the  ostriches,  but 
more  nearly  related  to  the  Dinornis  of  New  Zealand.  The 
eggs  are  more  than  a  foot  long  (12jin.  by  Q^in.)  and  have 
the  capacity  of  six  or  seven  ostrich  eggs.  This  bird  has 


MADAGASCAR. 


11 


also  a  literary  interest,  from  the  probability  that  its  im¬ 
mense  eggs  gave  rise  to  the  mediasval  stories  of  a  gigantic 
bird  termed  the  roc,  or  rukh,  and  referred  to  in  the  A  rabian 
Niifhts,  and  in  the  accounts  of  early  travellers.  Gigantic 
tortoises,  now  only  existing  in  a  sub-fossil  state,  formerly 
lived  in  Madagascar,  and  are  still  found  in  the  little  unin¬ 
habited  island  of  Aldebra,  north  of  the  main  land.  Croco¬ 
diles  abound  in  all  the  rivers  and  lakes,  but  besides  these 
there  are  few  noxious  creatures,  most  of  the  serpents  being 
harmless.  The  insects  are  numerous,  many  of  the  butter¬ 
flies,  moths,  beetles,  spiders,  and  locusts  being  of  brilliant 
colours  and  remarkable  forms.  Madagascar  is  still  imper¬ 
fectly  explored,  so  that  there  is  yet  a  wide  field  for  research 
in  all  that  relates  to  the  scientific  aspects  of  the  country.'" 

II.— THE  PEOPLE. 

Origin  and  Relationships. — Although  Madagascar  is 
comparatively  near  the  African  continent,  and  is  about 
3,000  miles  distant  from  South-eastern  Asia,  the  majority 
of  the  inhabitants  are  not  of  African  origin,  but  have 
come  at  some  remote  period  from  the  Malayan  Peninsula 
and  Archipelago'.  Difficult  of  belief  as  this  statement 
may  at  first  sight  appear,  it  is  confirmed  in  so  many  ways 
that  it  is  impossible  to  avoid  this  conclusion  ;  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  people,  their  mental  traits,  their  cus¬ 
toms  and  traditions,  and,  above  all,  their  language,  all 
combine  to  make  it  certain  that  they  are  a  branch  of  that 
brown  race  of  people  which  has  spread  from  South-eastern 
Asia  over  the  islands  of  the  Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans. 

In  addition  to  this  Malayo-Polynesian  primary  stock  in 
Madagascar,  there  is  also  an  admixture  of  African  blood, 
esj^ecially  in  the  peoples  of  the  western  side  of  the  island  ; 
and  besides  these,  there  is  an  Arab  element  both  on  the 
north-west  and  south-east  coasts.  Eight  hundred  or  a 
thousand  years  ago  the  Arabs  exercised  considerable  in¬ 
fluence  upon  the  civilization  of  Madagascar,  and  have  left 
ineffaceable  traces  of  this  in  the  numerous  and  important 

*  For  fuller  information  on  all  points  treated  of  in  this  and 
following  chapters,  the  reader  may  he  referred  to  the  author’s  larger 
work  The  Great  African  Island  (Triibner,  1880),  chaps,  i. — iv. 


12 


MADAGASCAH. 


words  they  added  to  the  language.  There  are  also,  In 
addition  to  these  chief  elements  in  the  population,  traces 
of  an  aboriginal  people  or  peoples,  of  a  lower  stature  and 
lighter  colour  than  either  the  African  or  Malayan  races, 
one  of  them  apparently  a  tree-dwelling  tribe ;  but  about 
all  these  our  information  is  at  present  very  scanty  and 
uncertain. 

Divisions. — Until  the  early  part  of  the  last  century  the 
Malagasy  people  were  divided  into  a  number  of  indepen¬ 
dent  tribes,  each  under  its  own  chief,  and  often  separated 
by  a  considerable  tract  of  uninhabited  country  from  its 
neighbours.  But  about  180  years  ago  a  small  but  warlike 
tribe  in  the  south-west  of  the  island,  called  Sakalava, 
subdued  all  the  other  people  of  the  western  provinces  up 
to  the  extreme  north,  and  also  some  of  the  interior  tribes, 
and  founded  two  powerful  kingdoms  which  retained  their 
supremacy  until  the  close  of  the  century.  But  since  that 
period  the  Sakalkva  have  lost  their  influence,  and  another 
tribe,  the  Hovas,  occupying  the  province  of  Imerina  in  the 
centre  of  the  island,  has  become  the  dominant  race  in 
Madagascar.  Two  energetic  chieftains,  Impoina  and  his  ‘ 
son  Kadama,  aided  by  an  alliance  with  the  English,  and 
by  European  arms  and  disciplined  troops,  established 
their  supremacy  over  most  of  the  interior  provinces,  all 
the  eastern  tribes,  and  partially  over  the  western  coast ; 
so  that  the  chiefs  of  Imerina  became  virtually  kings  of 
Madagascar.  The  Hova  authority  is  still  slight  over  large 
portions  of  the  western  side  of  the  island,  and  the  south¬ 
western  peoples  are  practically  independent ;  but  it  will  be 
a  benefit  to  the  country  when  these  turbulent  tribes  are 
brought  under  the  central  authority,  and  one  strong 
government  is  established  over  the  whole  of  Madagascar. 
The  Hovas  are  probably  the  latest  immigrants  into  the 
country,  and  are  most  likely  of  the  purest  Malay  stock. 
They  are  the  lightest  in  colour,  and  are  the  most  advanced, 
civilized,  and  intelligent  race  in  Madagascar,  and  among 
them  the  largest  amount  of  missionary  labour  has  been 
expended;  and  with  them,  accordingly,  Christianity  and 
education  has  made  the  greatest  progress. 

The  various  tribes  of  Madagascar  may  be  roughly 
grouped  into  three  great  divisions :  eastern,  central,  and 
western.  Of  these,  the  B^tsimisaraka,  Bezanozano, 


MADAGASCAR. 


13 


Taimoro,  Tanala,  Taifasy,  and  Taisaka,  are  the  chief  on 
the  eastern  side ;  then,  still  from  north  to  south,  the 
Tankarana,  Sihanaka,  Mainty,  Hovas,  Betsileo,  and  Bara, 
in  the  centre  ;  while  all  along  the  west  coast  are  numerous 
tribes,  all  loosely  called  Sakalava,  although  this  is  pro¬ 
perly  the  name  of  one  tribe  only,  as  each  has  its  own 
name  and  distinct  nationality. 

Civilization. — Although  considerable  differences  exist 
between  the  various  Malagasy  tribes,  of  none  can  it  pro¬ 
perly  be  said  that  they  are  a  savage  or  even  a  barbarous 
people.  They  have  always  possessed  a  certain  degree  of 
civilization ;  they  live  in  towns  and  villages  which  are 
often  fortified  with  immense  labour  and  ingenuity ;  they 
are  skilful  in  metal  work  and  other  handicrafts ;  and  most 
of  the  eastern  and  central  tribes  have  considerable  ability 
in  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  silk,  and  of  cotton,  hemp, 
rofia  palm,  and  other  vegetable  fibres,  and  in  the  manu¬ 
facture  of  straw-plaited  articles  in  great  variety,  and  often 
of  much  strength,  beauty,  and  delicacy.  Their  non-em¬ 
ployment  of  skins  for  clothing,  and  the  use  made,  not  only 
of  vegetable  fibres,  but  of  bark  cloth,  is  one  of  many  links 
of  connection  between  them  and  the  Polynesian  races. 
The  houses  of  the  chiefs  and  wealthy  people  among  the 
Hovas  and  some  other  tribes  are  constructed  of  timber  of 
large  dimensions.  But  they  lavish  much  more  money 
and  pains  upon  their  tombs,  which,  among  the  Hovas, 
consist  of  a  vault  of  immense  slabs  of  undressed  rock. 
The  Betsileo  also  expend  great  labour  upon  their  tombs, 
which  are  sunk  at  a  great  depth  below  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

The  principal  employment  of  the  people  in  the  central 
and  eastern  provinces  is  the  cultivation  of  rice,  the  staple 
food  of  the  majority  of  the  population.  Large  herds  of 
cattle  are  also  reared  on  the  rich  pasture  lands  of  the 
western  plains,  as  well  as  in  Antsihanaka,  and  on  the 
eastern  coast.  The  Sakalava  races  are  more  migratory  in 
their  habits  than  the  other  tribes,  frequently  breaking  up 
their  villages  (always  when  a  death  occurs)  and  mov¬ 
ing  to  fresh  pastures;  and  subsisting  more  upon  roots  and 
vegetables  than  upon  rice.  Although  the  Malagasy  had 
no  written  character,  and  were  consequently  not  a  cultured 
people,  they  are  by  no  means  deficient  in  mental  power 


14 


MADAGASCAR. 


or  ability.  The  children  of  every  tribe  are  bright  and 
intelligent,  and  learn  quickly ;  education  is  making  rapid 
advances  in  the  central  provinces ;  hundreds  of  natives  are 
now  employed  in  teaching,  and  many  in  assisting  to  write 
books ;  and  some  have  taken  degrees  in  medicine  in 
English  universities. 

The  Language  spoken  in  Madagascar,  although  coiiq^rising 
many  dialectic  differences,  is  substantially  one  all  over  the 
island,  and  there  are  no  traces  of  any  speech  of  a  distinctly 
different  stock  from  that  spoken  by  the  mass  of  the 
people.  It  has  close  affinities,  both  as  regards  vocabulary 
and  structure,  with  several  of  the  languages  of  the  Malay 
Archipelago,  as  well  as  with  those  of  Polynesia.  Malagasy 
is  a  soft  and  beautiful  language,  full  of  vowels  and  liquids, 
and  free  from  all  harsh  guttural  sounds.  While  the 
Malagasy  people  have  no  ancient  literature  or  inscriptions 
of  any  kind,  they  have  a  considerable  amount  of  what  has 
been  termed  “  unwritten  literature  ”  existing  in  their 
language  and  daily  speech.  This  consists  of  numerous 
proverbs,  oratorical  flourishes — emblems,  allegories,  and 
figures,  songs,  and  a  large  body  of  folk-tales,  most  of  them 
only  recently  taken  down  in  writing.  These  products  of 
the  mind  of  the  Malagasy  give  abundant  evidence  of  their 
intellectual  acuteness,  habits  of  observation,  and  imagi¬ 
native  power.  Almost  all  the  people  are  ready  and  fluent 
speakers,  and  many  of  them  have  considerable  oratorical 
abilities. 

With  regard  to  the  Moral  Qualities  of  the  Malagasy,  it 
must  be  confessed  that  less  can  be  said  of  a  favourable 
character  on  this  head  than  can  be  truthfully  stated  as  to 
their  social  and  intellectual  position.  They  are  certainly 
(apart  from  the  influence  of  the  Gospel)  very  immoral  and 
untruthful,  disregardful  of  human  life  and  suffering,  and 
cruel  in  war.  Drunkenness  is  very  prevalent  in  most  j^arts 
of  the  island,  except  in  Imeriua  (where  it  is  restrained  by 
law),  and  of  few  of  the  tribes  can  it  be  said  that  they  are 
industrious.  But  they  are  very  courageous,  and  capable 
of  much  strenuous  exertion  for  a  short  period ;  they  are 
affectionate  and  firm  in  their  friendships,  kind  to  their 
children  and  to  their  aged  and  sick  relatives,  very  re¬ 
spectful  to  old  age,  law-obeying  and  loyal,  very  courteous 
and  polite,  and  most  hospitable  to  all  strangers. 


MABAGASCAB. 


15 


In  their  Religious  Beliefs  and  Practices  the  people  of 
Madagascar  may  be  said  to  occupy  an  intermediate 
position  among  heathen  nations.  On  the  one  hand,  they 
have  never  had  an  organised  idolatrous  system  and  worship, 
such  as  is  found  among  almost  all  Eastern  peoples,  and  in 
such  power  and  fulness  in  India  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  have  never  sunk  to  the  low  condition  of  many  bar¬ 
barous  tribes,  where  the  idea  of  a  beneficent  Creator  or 
unseen  Power  seems  almost,  if  not  quite,  to  have  died  out 
of  the  mind  of  these  degraded  races.  In  passing  through 
the  country  there  are  very  few  outward  signs  of  idolatry 
to  be  seen,  for  there  are  no  temples,  or  idols  set  up  for 
worship,  nor  is  there  a  priesthood,  properly  so  called,  or 
a  caste  system,  or  pilgrimages,  penances,  and  shrines. 
Malagasy  idolatry  is  rather  a  charm-worship  or  fetishism  ; 
a  belief  in  the  virtues  of  various  worthless  objects,  such  as 
pieces  of  certain  trees  and  plants,  stones,  red  cloth,  gourds, 
a  crocodile’s  tooth,  a  wild-boar’s  tusk,  the  tip  of  a  bullock’s 
horn,  etc.,  to  protect  from  particular  evils  and  to  procure 
special  benefits.  Among  these  are  protection  from 
disease,  poison,  wounds,  delirium,  sudden  illness,  hail, 
lightning,  an  enemy’s  bullet,  crocodiles,  canoe  upsetting, 
etc.,  and  the  obtaining  of  wealth,  children,  cattle  and 
slaves  when  at  war,  and  the  gratification  of  sensual  desires. 
IMany  of  these  charms  or  ody  are  worn  upon  the  person, 
fastened  to  the  arms  and  chest ;  but  others  are  stones  or 
rocks  of  considerable  size  on  prominent  positions,  or  on 
the  banks  or  beds  of  streams  ;  and  others  are  carved  posts 
placed  at  the  entrance  of  the  villages. 

Within  a  comparatively  modern  period  some  of  these 
charms  obtained  in  Imerina  special  fame  from  their  re¬ 
puted  powers,  and  became  to  a  great  extent  national  gods, 
being  looked  upon  as  the  jprotectors  of  the  kingdom  and 
the  sovereign.  Their  respective  guardians,  tribes  or 
families  who  had  been  for  a  long  time  keepers  of  each  idol, 
had  special  privileges  and  honours  resembling  some  of 
those  proper  to  royal  rank.  These  chief  idols  were  four  in 
number,  and  named  respectively  Kelimalaza  (“  Little  [but] 
famous”),  Eamahavaly  (“One  able  to  answer,”  or,  “to 
revenge  ”),  Fantkka  (meanmg  obscure),  and  Manj^katsiroa 
(“  Not  two  reigning  ”),  the  last-named  being  the  special 
protector  of  the  person  and  family  of  the  sovereign,  There 


16 


MABAGASCATt. 


were  also  numerous  others  of  more  local  fame,  as  well  as 
charms  belonging  to  villages,  tribes,  families,  and 
individuals. 

Priesthood  was  formerly  among  the  Hovas,  and  is  still 
among  the  heathen  tribes,  a  matter  not  of  caste  privilege, 
but  rather  belonging  to  the  head  of  each  household,  who 
offers  prayers  and  burns  a  fragrant  gum  before,  or  rather 
under,  the  family  ody  or  charm.  Among  the  Hovas  this 
priestly  office  appears  latterly  to  have  become  more  and 
more  attached  to  the  chieftainship  of  the  tribe,*  so  that  in 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century  the  Hova  kings  offered 
a  kind  of  sacrifice  at  the  tombs  of  their  predecessors. 
Ancestor-worship  is  a  marked  feature  in  the  religion  of 
the  Malagasy.  Their  deceased  relatives  are  believed  to 
liave  become  divine  in  a  certain  sense ;  their  protection  is 
invoked,  and  to  them  prayers  and  sacrifices  are  offered. 
In  addition  to  the  worship  of  ancestors  and  idols  there 
is  also  a  strong  belief  in  divination  and  witchcraft,  in  the 
evil  or  good  influence  of  various  times  and  seasons,  in  the 
power  of  the  evil  eye,  and  in  a  number  of  curious  ordeals 
for  the  detection  of  certain  crimes,  the  chief  of  them,  and 
formerly  very  destructive  to  life,  being  the  tangena  poison 
ordeal.  The  practice  of  this  last  was,  happily,  made  illegal 
by  an  article  in  the  Anglo-Malagasy  treaty  (1865). 

Knowledge  of  One  Supreme  God. — But  underlying  this 
charm- worship  and  the  various  superstitious  practices  just 
mentioned,  there  is  also  a  universal  belief  in  a  Supreme 
Being,  for  the  people  of  Madagascar  have  never  lost 
some  notion  of  a  beneficent  and  almighty  Creator.  This 
God  is  known  by  the  name  of  Andriamiinitra,  i.e.,  “  Fra¬ 
grant  Prince,”  or  perhaps,  “  The  Fragrant  One,”  possibly 
derived  from  the  use  of  incense  in  worship  ;  but  a  name 
involving  a  much  higher  idea,  and  one  which  is  more 
widely  employed  all  over  the  island,  is  Andriananahary  or 
Zanaliary,  “  The  Creating  Prince,”  or  “  The  Creator.” 
This  Supreme  Being  is  invoked  in  all  public  proceedings, 
together  with  the  spirits  of  the  ancestors  of  kings  and 
chiefs  and  families.  But  in  addition  to  these  names  for 
God,  there  is  also  a  considerable  amount  of  knowledge  as 
to  His  character  and  attributes,  which  is  retained  in  the 

*  This  seems  to  have  been  the  case  also  amongst  the  Sakalava,  and 
probably  with  other  tribes  as  well. 


MADAGASGAH. 


17 


more  formal  speech  of  the  people  by  means  of  a  number 
of  proverbs  and  adages,  handed  down  by  tradition  probably 
from  a  very  remote  period.  These  proverbial  sayings  in¬ 
volve  the  ideas  of  God  as  being  Protector  of  the  helpless, 
Avenger  of  evil,  Kewarder  of  the  good,  the  long-suffering 
One  who  must  be  waited  for  in  faith,  the  God  answering 
prayer,  the  Omniscient,  and  the  Judge  of  mankind.  So 
that  in  preaching  to  some  portions  of  the  Malagasy  people 
we  do  not  proclaim  to  them  an  utterly  “unknown  God,” 
but  One  with  whose  character  they  are,  to  a  slight  extent, 
already  acquainted ;  while  these  ancient  sayings  can  be 
appealed  to  as  confirmatory  of  the  truth  of  Eevelatiou. 
It  must  however  be  said  that  one  of  the  words  for  God 
(Andriamanitra)  was  degraded  by  being  applied  to  other 
objects  than  the  One  Supreme.  The  living  sovereigns,  as 
well  as  the  deceased  ones,  were  termed  Andriamanitra  ; 
and  so  were  the  idols,  and  even  articles  of  human  origin 
about  whose  production  there  was  anything  at  all  myste¬ 
rious  or  obscure.  No  doubt  this  was  a  loose  way  of  em¬ 
ploying  the  word,  somewhat  analogous  to  our  use  of  the 
adjective  “  divine,”  but  it  was  not  the  less  lowering  to  the 
idea  of  God.  It  -should  be  noted  that  the  other  word, 
Andrianaiiahary,  is  not  employed  in  this  lower  sense. 

It  must  be  also  added  that  this  knowledge  of  God  appears 
to  have  had  little  effect  upon  the  character  and  lives  of  the 
Malagasy.  It  did  not  prevent  them  from  being  grossly 
immoral,  as  already  mentioned  ;  and  their  moral  condition 
seems  to  have  deteriorated  as  time  went  on,  for  the  idolatry 
of  Imerina,  at  least,  was  a  matter  of  comparatively  modern 
origin  and  development ;  and  the  purer  faith  and  morality 
of  earlier  ages,  to  which  their  proverbs  bear  witness,  would 
appear  to  have  been  gradually  overlaid  by  charm-worship, 
and  darkened  by  the  various  supei’stitious  practices  which 
grew  up  in  later  times. 

Population. — Such  were  the  people  amongst  whom  the 
first  missionaries  began  their  work  some  sixty  years  ago  ; 
and  such,  in  great  measure,  the  heathen  inhabitants  of 
Madagascar  still  are.  They  are  not  numerous  compared 
with  the  size  of  the  country;  some  four  to  four  and  a  half 
millions  of  people  probably  comprise  the  whole  population 
of  the  island.  Of  these,  only  one  tribe,  the  Hovas,  numbering 
perhaps  about  one  million,  were  touched  by  early  missionary 

2 


18 


MADAGASCAR. 


effort ;  and  of  this  number  only  some  of  those  living  in  the 
capital  city  of  Antananarivo  and  its  immediate  neighbour¬ 
hood  came  under  the  direct  influence  of  Christian  teaching. 
The  population  of  the  capital  is  probably  about  100,000, 
but  this  city  is  by  far  the  largest  town  in  the  island.  The 
next  largest  place  is  Mojanga  (14,000),  a  seaport  on  the 
north-west  coast ;  then  comes  Tamatave  (east  coast),  and 
Fianarantsba,  the  capital  of  Betsileo,  each  with  about 
5,000  or  6,000.  There  are  few  other  places  with  more 
than  4,000  or  5,000  inhabitants,  while  the  great  majority 
of  the  villages  throughout  the  country  are  small,  although 
in  some  districts  in  Imerina,  Betsileo,  and  the  south-east 
coast,  they  are  very  numerous,  a  large  population  being 
found  in  a  small  extent  of  country. 

III.— THE  PLANTING  OF  THE  GOSPEL. 

(1818—1836.) 

Three  Periods  in  Mission  Work. — The  history  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  Madagascar  may  be  conveniently  divided  into 
three  periods  :  Its  Planting,  from  1818  to  1836  ;  its  Perse¬ 
cution,  from  1836  to  1861 ;  and  its  Progress  and  recent 
wonderful  extension,  from  1862  to  the  present  time,  1880. 
It  will  be  seen  therefore,  that  these  periods  occupy  respec¬ 
tively,  eighteen,  twenty-five,  and  eighteen  years  ;  and  if 
these  figures  are  borne  in  mind,  together  with  the  three 
words  (each  beginning  with  the  same  letter)  which  may 
fitly  describe  the  main  characteristic  of  each  period,  a 
tolerably  correct  bird’s-eye  view  will  be  obtained  of  the 
work  of  Christian  missions  in  the  island  up  to  the  present 
time. 

Early  Plans  and  Attempts. — In  the  seventeenth  and 
eighteenth  centuries  various  attempts  were  made  by  Koman 
Catholic  missionaries  to  instruct  some  of  the  Malagasy 
tribes  in  their  form  of  Christianity,  but  without  any  bene¬ 
ficial  or  permanent  result.  And  in  one  at  least  of  the 
books  written  in  England  in  1643,  urging  the  benefits  to 
English  trade  of  a  “Plantation”  in  Madagascar,  the 
si^iritual  needs  of  the  people  were  dwelt  upon  with  much 
earnestness,  in  the  following  words:  “  This  virgin  island 
of  Madagascar  doth  here,  by  me,  friendly  and  lovingly 


MADAGASCAR. 


19 


invite  our  Nation  to  take  some  compassion  of  her  nakede- 
nesse,  her  poverty,  and  her  simplicity,  both  corporall  and 
spirituall,  and  doth  earnestly  and  affectionately  even  beg 
of  us  to  redeeme  her  out  of  her  miserable  thraldome  under 
the  tyranny  of  Satan,  to  be  united  with  us  into  the  fellow¬ 
ship  of  the  sons  of  God,  by  our  union  with  Christ  Jesus.” 
But  it  was  not  until  the  close  of  the  last  century  that  the 
attention  of  Protestant  Christians  was  practically  drawn 
to  the  great  island  as  a  field  for  missionary  effort.  At  one 
of  the  earliest  meetings  of  the  London  Missionary  Society, 
held  in  1796,  the  Directors  had  their  thoughts  directed  to 
Madagascar,  as  presenting  a  favourable  opening  for  the 
introduction  of  the  gospel ;  and  when  Dr.  Vanderkemp  left 
England  for  South  Africa  in  1798,  he  was  directed  to  use 
every  effort  to  commence  a  mission  in  the  island.  At  the 
close  of  1811  he  was  arranging  to  proceed  with  two  others 
to  Madagascar  at  an  early  date,  but  this  intention  he  was 
prevented  from  carrying  out  by  his  death  vAthin  a  few’  days 
after  he  had  written  to  announce  his  plans ;  and  so  for  some 
time  the  matter  remained  in  abeyance.  Subsequently,  in 
1814,  the  Directors  of  the  Society  directed  the  Kev.  J.  Le 
Brun  to  proceed  to  Mauritius  in  order  to  prepare  the  way 
to  Madagascar.  But  Mr.  Le  Brun,  feeling  the  great  need 
there  was  for  evangelistic  effort  among  the  coloured  popu¬ 
lation  of  Mauritius,  decided  to  stay  there,  so  that  again  the 
establishment  of  the  Madagascar  mission  was  delayed. 

Founding  of  the  Protestant  Mission.- — But  in  1818  two 
young  Welsh  missionaries,  the  Eevs.  Thos.  Bevan  and 
David  Jones,  left  England  for  Madagascar,  and  landed  at 
Tamatave  on  the  eastern  coast,  in  the  August  of  that  year. 
After  staying  about  seven  weeks,  and  being  much  encou¬ 
raged  by  the  willingness  of  the  people  to  send  their  children 
to  school,  and  the  quickness  wAth  which  their  scholars 
learned,  they  returned  to  Mauritius  to  fetch  their  wives 
and  infant  children,  and  came  back  to  Madagascar  towards 
the  close  of  the  year.  It  was,  however,  dangerously  late 
in  the  season  for  new  comers  to  arrive,  as  the  hot  and 
rainy  months  were  then  commencing ;  and  their  labours 
were  soon  cut  short  by  disease  and  death.  All  were  at¬ 
tacked  by  malarial  fever ;  five  out  of  the  six  composing  that 
little  mission  party  soon  died,  the  sole  survivor,  Mr.  Jones, 
only  narrowly  escaped  with  life,  and  was  so  much  weak- 


20 


MADAGASCAn. 


euecl  that  lie  was  obliged  to  retire  for  a  few  months,  and 
seek  change  of  scene  at  IVtauritius. 

But  in  1820  Mr.  Jones  returned  to  Madagascar,  accom¬ 
panied  by  Mr.  James  Hastie,  the  newly-appointed  British 
Agent  at  the  court  of  King  Eadiima,  and  proceeded  with 
him  to  the  more  healthy  elevated  interior,  to  the  capital 
city,  Antananarivo.  With  the  distinctly  expressed  favour 
of  the  king,  Mr.  Jones  commenced  his  work  in  the  capital, 
and  in  the  following  year  he  was  joined  by  the  Kev.  D. 
Griffiths,  and  subsequently  by  the  Kevs.  D.  Johns,  John 
Jeffreys,  J.  J.  Breeman,  and  Theo.  Atkinson,  together  with 
several  excellent  Christian  artisans,  who  were  sent  to  in¬ 
struct  the  people  in  some  of  the  arts  of  civilised  life 
— carpentry,  building,  blacksmith’s  work,  tanning,  and 
weaving,  as  well  as  in  priuting. 

Work  of  the  First  Missionaries. — With  little  difficulty 
in  their  way  from  any  outward  opposition,  these  “  fathers 
and  founders  ”  of  the  mission  in  Madagascar  proceeded 
steadily  with  their  labours  for  several  years.  And  a  truly 
great  work  it  was  which  was  accomplished  in  a  compara¬ 
tively  short  period  by  these  few  men,  for  of  the  six  ordained 
missionaries  above  mentioned,  two,  Mr.  Jeffreys  and  Mr. 
Atkinson,  were  only  allowed  to  stay  a  short  time,  so  that 
the  hulk  of  the  work  fell  upon  the  other  four.  They  re¬ 
duced  the  language  for  the  first  time  to  a  systematic 
written  form,  and  settled  its  orthography  ;  *  and  compiled 
dictionaries  which  are  still  the  standard  works  for  reference. 
They  founded  a  school  system,  by  which  many  thousands 
of  the  young  people  of  the  capital  and  its  neighbourhood 
received  an  excellent  education.  They  prepared  a  con¬ 
siderable  literature,  scholastic  aiid  religious,  to  satisfy  the 
newly-awakened  taste  for  reading  in  their  scholars.  They 
translated  and  printed  at  their  press  not  only  several 
editions  of  the  Gospels,  the  New  Testament,  and  portions 
of  the  Old  Testament,  hut  were  able  before  their  final  de¬ 
parture  in  18i3()  to  complete  an  edition  of  the  whole  Bible 
in  the  native  language.  The  missionary  artisans,  who 
heartily  co-operated  Avith  their  brethren  in  doing  good  to 
the  people  in  teaching  and  occasional  preaching,  also  did 

*  This  work  was  clone  almost  entirely  by  Mr.  Jones  and  Mr. 
Griffiths,  who  also  were  the  chief  translators  of  the  Scriptures.  Mr. 
Johns  and  Mr.  Freeman  prepared  the  Dictionary. 


MADAGASCAR. 


21 


miicli  for  the  material  advancement  of  the  country,  and  the 
names  of  Messrs.  Cameron,  Chick,  Canham,  and  Baker 
will  he  long  remembered  with  gratitude  by  the  Malagasy. 

Favour  of  King  Radama. — Besides  these  various 
labours — literary,  scholastic,  biblical,  and  civilizing — it 
need  hardly  he  said  that  continual  efforts  were  made  by 
public  preaching,  bible-class  instruction,  personal  inter¬ 
course,  and  other  means  to  bring  the  truths  of  the  gospel  to 
hear  upon  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the  people.  But  for  some 
years  the  missionaries  had  to  sow  the  seed  in  faith,  and 
wait  patiently  before  much  visible  effect  was  produced  ; 
aud  before  success  crowned  their  efforts  changes  took 
place  in  the  government  of  Madagascar  which  eventually 
had  the  most  serious  inffuence  upon  the  mission  as  well 
as  upon  the  people  generally.  These  followed  upon  the 
death  of  King  Fiadama,  who  was  a  kind  of  Peter  the  Great, 
or  Alfred  the  Great,  of  his  time,  and  who  had  earnestly 
desired  that  his  people  should  bo  raised  from  their  low 
position  as  a  nation,  and  become  educated  and  civilized. 
He  had  made  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  England,  by 
whose  provisions  the  export  of  slaves  from  Madagascar 
was  abolished,  and  his  subjects  were  to  receive  instruction 
in  various  useful  knowledge.  Although  Radaina  did  not 
become  a  Christian  himself,  he  placed  no  obstacle  in  the 
way  of  his  people  professing  Christianity,  and  gave  all  the 
weight  of  his  personal  authority  and  favour  to  the  efforts 
of  the  missionaries  in  his  capital.  He  evidently  had  no 
faith  in  idolatry  and  some  of  the  other  superstitions  of 
his  country,  and  made  no  scruple  in  showing  his  contempt 
for  the  trickery  by  which  the  idol-keepers  endeavoured  to 
retain  their  influence  over  the  people.  But  in  1828,  at 
the  early  age  of  36,  Radama  died,  partly  owing  to  the  ex¬ 
cesses  to  which  he  became  addicted  in  spite  of  his  better 
judgment  and  resolves.  At  his  death  the  chief  power 
was  seized  by  one  of  his  wives,  the  Princess  Rauavalona, 
who  gained  the  throne  by  the  influence  of  two  or  three 
leading  officers  of  the  army,  and  who  tlien  put  to  death  in 
a  very  cruel  manner  the  rightful  heir,  together  with 
several  other  of  Radiuna’s  relatives. 

Accession  of  Ranavalona  I. — The  new  sovereign  was  a 
very  superstitious  and  despotic  woman,  and  strongly 
attached  to  the  old  idolatrous  customs ;  and  she  viewed 


22 


MADAGASCAR. 


with  much  suspicion  the  influence  which  Christianity  was 
slowly  gaining  in  the  country.  The  first  two  or  three 
years  of  her  reign  was  full  of  political  disturbance  and 
unrest  from  the  attempts  made  by  the  French  to  enforce 
claims  to  certain  territory  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Mada¬ 
gascar  ;  and  partly  also  from  the  unfriendly  feeling  shown 
to  all  European  powers,  the  Queen  announcing  that  she 
did  not  hold  herself  bound  by  Kadama’s  treaty  with  the 
English,  although  she  would  not  revive  the  slave  trade. 
The^  wars  begun  by  her  predecessors  in  various  distant 
provinces  were  carried  on  with  ruthless  cruelty,  and  there 
was  for  some  time  imminent  danger  of  a  war  with  the 
French,  who  had  landed  troops  on  the  eastern  coast.  It 
was  believed  that  the  hope  of  gaining  British  help  against 
the  French  was  one  reason,  amongst  others,  why  the 
English  missionaries  were  still  allowed  to  pursue  their 
labours.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Christian  work  in  Mada¬ 
gascar  began  to  assume  its  most  hopeful  character  when 
the  political  state  of  the  country  was  most  disturbed  and 
threatening.  Great  attention  and  interest  was  shown  in 
divine  worship  and  Bible  teaching,  so  that  the  hearts  of 
the  missionaries  were  cheered  by  seeing  that  their  in¬ 
structions  and  the  reading  of  the  books  circulated  had  been 
the  means  of  decided  spiritual  benefit  to  many  of  the 
people. 

Success  of  Mission  Work.- — In  the  year  1831  hopes 
were  entertained  that  religious  liberty  would  still  be 
allowed,  for  leave  was  given  for  the  people  to  be  baptized 
and  join  Christian  societies;  and  in  May  and  June  of  that 
year,  the  first  converts  to  Christianity  in  Madagascar 
received  baptism.  Other  congregations  were  then  formed 
at  the  capital  in  addition  to  the  one  which  had  previously 
been  gathered  together,  and  so  wide-spread  an  interest 
was  aroused,  that  people  of  the  highest  rank,  some  even 
from  the  royal  family,  and  others  closely  connected  with  the 
Government,  were  found  coming  forward  and  professing 
their  faith  in  Christ.  But  this  very  success  was  one  of 
the  chief  circumstances  which  helped  to  increase  the 
suspicions  and  fears  of  the  Queen  with  regard  to  Christian¬ 
ity.  The  permission  accorded  to  receive  baptism  and  to 
observe  the  Lord’s  Supper  had  not  been  given  many  weeks 
before  it  was  recalled  in  the  case  of  the  soldiers  and  those 


3IADAGASCAB. 


23 


in  Government  schools,  and  the  prohibition  was  soon  ex¬ 
tended  to  all  the  people.  But  notwithstanding  these 
threatening  circumstances,  the  gospel  made  steady  ad¬ 
vance,  and  many  incidents  of  great  interest  continually 
occurred,  both  in  the  capital  city  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
country,  showing  the  hold  which  the  new  doctrines  were 
obtaining,  and  how  idolatry  was  losing  its  power  over  the 
more  intelligent  of  the  people.  Still  it  was  evident  that 
further  measures  of  repression  were  to  follow,  for  the 
heathen  party,  alarmed  by  the  growing  influence  of 
Christianity,  put  forth  every  effort  to  oppose  it. 

Commencement  of  Eepressive  Measures. — At  length,  in 
the  month  of  January,  1835,  definite  charges  were  publicly 
made  against  the  Christians  of  despising  the  idols, 
holding  prayer-meetings,  and  ceasing  to  swear ;  their 
observance  of  the  Sabbath,  and  the  chastity  of  their 
women.  Although  the  person  specially  accused  was 
declared  innocent  by  the  tanrjena  ordeal,  the  Queen  was 
extremely  displeased  with  all  the  Christians ;  and  while 
for  yet  a  few  weeks  greater  seriousness  was  evinced,  and 
.  a  more  wide-spread  interest  shown  in  the  truths  of  the 
gospel,  every  day  brought  the  crisis  nearer,  and  several 
circumstances  occurred  to  intensify  the  Queen’s  dislike  to 
Christianity.  In  her  Majesty’s  mind  loyalty  and  idolatry 
were  so  closely  connected  together,  that  she  feared  that 
if  her  people  ceased  to  worship  the  national  idols,  they 
would  also  cease  to  honour  her  as  they  had  been  ac¬ 
customed  to  do.  And  it  must  be  remembered  that  in 
the  religious  practices  of  the  Malagasy  the  worship  of  the 
ancestors  of  the  sovereign  was  a  prominent  feature.  This 
was  of  course  abandoned  by  the  Christians,  and  so  the 
Queen  professed  to  consider  them  disloyal  in  ceasing  to 
pray  to  her  predecessors,  and  in  beginning  to  Avorship 
Jehovah  and  Jesus,  whom  she  affected  to  believe  were  the 
names  of  certain  English  kings  of  a  bygone  age. 

There  appears  to  Ido  little  doubt  that  all  the  European 
missionaries  would  have  been  sent  away  from  Madagascar 
some  four  or  five  years  earlier  than  Avas  actually  the  case, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  presence  of  the  artisan  members  of 
the  mission,  and  the  evident  advantage  to  the  country  in 
the  instruction  in  various  useful  manufactures  which  they 
were  imparting  to  the  people.  Among  other  things,  the 


24 


MADAGASCAR. 


production  of  soap  from  native  materials  was  commenced, 
and  machinery  was  made  for  the  Government  powder-mills, 
together  with  a  reservoir  and  canals  for  supplying  water¬ 
power.  But  as  soon  as  the  Queen’s  subjects  had  made 
themselves  familiar  with  the  requisite  processes,  it  was 
not  thought  necessary  to  temporize  any  longer,  and 
several  missionaries  were  successively  required  to  leave 
the  country. 

Christian  Teaching  and  Worship  forbidden. — Early  in 
the  year  1885  the  Queen  made  up  her  mind  to  put  down 
Christianity  hy  force,  and  on  the  26th  of  February  she 
sent  a  message  to  the  missionaries  informing  them  that 
while  they  might  continue  to  follow  their  own  religious 
customs,  these  must  no  longer  be  practised  by  her  subjects. 
She  allowed  them  still  to  impart  secular  instruction  and 
knowledge  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  but  nothing  that 
should  have  the  effect  of  changing  the  ancient  religious 
observances  of  Madagascar.  Earnest  remonstrance  was 
made,  but  without  any  effect ;  and  on  March  Ist  a  great 
national  assembly  was  called  together,  at  which  it  was 
said  that  150,000  persons  were  present.  With  great  pomp 
and  display  of  military  force,  a  royal  message  was  delivered 
in  which  the  Queen  denounced  the  disrespect  with  which 
the  divination,  the  idols,  and  other  objects  of  popular 
veneration  were  treated  by  many.  And  she  went  on 
to  forbid,  under  the  severest  punishment,  the  various 
practices  of  Christian  worship  ;  telling  the  people  emphati¬ 
cally,  “I  detest  these  things  ;  I  tell  you  plainly  they  shall 
not  be  done  in  my  country.”  It  was  evident  that  soon  all 
the  cruelties  of  the  native  laws  would  be  put  in  force  to 
terrify  the  people  out  of  their  belief  in  the  gospel,  for  all 
who  had  taken  any  part  in  Christian  observances  were 
ordered,  under  severe  penalties,  to  come  forward  and 
accuse  themselves,  and  a  considerable  number  of  Christians 
were  reduced  in  rank  and  fined. 

Departure  of  the  Missionaries. — Strenuous  efforts  were 
made  by  the  missionaries  to  obtain  some  relaxation  of  the 
new  law  and  to  gain  permission  still  to  preach  and  teach, 
but  without  any  result ;  and  so,  seeing  that  for  the  present 
at  least  their  work  was  at  an  end,  most  of  them  prepared 
to  quit  the  country,  leaving  Mr.  Johns  and  Mr.  Baker  to 
remain  for  a  few  months  longer.  These  two  brethren, 


MADAGASCAR. 


25 


■wlaose  term  of  residence  was  not  yet  expired,  being  for¬ 
bidden  to  instruct  the  people, — their  own  servants  even 
being  taken  from  them  and  punished  for  having  joined  in 
family  worship, — went  on  with  such  school  teaching  as  was 
still  permitted ;  but  they  gave  themselves  chiefly  to  print¬ 
ing  and  preparing  books,  amongst  others,  the  Malagasy- 
English  Dictionary.  The  Pilgrim's  Progress  was  translated 
at  this  time,  and  the  various  portions  of  the  Malagasy  Scrip¬ 
tures,  the  translation  of  which  had  lately  been  completed, 
were  bound  in  one  volume ;  and  a  small  edition  of  the 
whole  Bible  was  prepared,  which  was  gladly  purchased, 
although  at  considei’able  risk  to  themselves,  by  the  native 
Christians.  The  missionaries  were  thankful  that  although 
deprived  of  European  teachers  their  converts  would  still 
have  the  best  of  all  teachers,  the  whole  Word  of  God  in 
their  own  tongue,  to  guide  and  support  them.  And  then, 
their  labours  completed,  having  done  all  for  their  people 
that  man  could  do,  they  could  only  commend  them  to  the 
Lord  on  whom  they  had  believed,  and  with  sorrowful 
hearts  leave  the  country  which  seemed  now  given  up  to 
the  power  of  the  Evil  one.  At  this  point  therefore,  July, 
1836,  the  first  of  the  three  periods  in  the  history  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  in  Madagascar — its  Planting — may  be  said  to  be 
completed,  and  the  second — its  Persecution — fairly  entered 
upon. 

IV.— THE  PERSECUTION  OF  THE  GOSPEL, 
(1836—1861.) 

The  narrative  of  the  Madagascar  persecution  is  now  a 
well-known  story,  “  a  thrice-told  tale,”  and  has  become  a 
part  of  the  modern  history  of  the  Church  and  of  Chris¬ 
tianity.  To  give  completeness  and  colour  to  the  story,  a 
number  of  incidents  would  have  to  be  related,  such  as  may 
be  found  detailed  in  Messrs.  Freeman  and  Johns’s  Narra¬ 
tive  of  the  Persecution  and  Mr.  Ellis’s  Martyr  Church.  All 
that  can  be  attempted  here  is  a  brief  summai-y  of  the  more 
prominent  facts  of  that  long  quarter-of-a-century  of  per¬ 
sistent  attempts  to  uproot  Christianity  from  Madagascar. 

First  Persecution. — It  was  in  the  early  part  of  1836  that 
the  first  active  measures  of  persecution  were  commenced  by 


26 


MADAGASCAR. 


the  accusation  of  Eafaravavy,  a  woman  of  good  position, 
and  afterwards  well  known  to  many  in  England.  She 
was  condemned  to  death,  but  twice  escaped  ;  and  after 
a  number  of  remarkable  providential  deliverances  she 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  coast,  and  eventually,  with  five 
other  native  Christians,  came  to  England.  Here  their  testi¬ 
mony  to  the  power  of  the  gospel  did  much  to  deepen  the 
sympathy  already  felt  for  the  persecuted  Malagasy  people. 

Although  Christian  worship  was  forbidden  under  severe 
j)enalties,  meetings  were  nevertheless  secretly  held  in  many 
places,  at  which  the  believing  people  encouraged  each  other 
to  hold  fast  their  faith  in  God,  and  still  observed  the  ordin¬ 
ances  of  their  religion.  In  secluded  villages,  in  recesses  of 
the  forest,  in  caves  and  clefts  of  the  rocks,  and  even  in  rice- 
holes,  worship  was  held,  usually  late  on  the  Saturday  night, 
the  little  assemblies  breaking  up  before  sunrise  on  the  fol- 
loAving  morning. 

Special  Periods  of  Trial. — Although  the  anti-Christian 
laws  were  never  relaxed,  active  persecution  was  not  of  course 
carried  on  with  equal  severity  during  the  whole  five  and 
twenty  years ;  and  now  and  again  it  seemed  as  if  a  more 
merciful  policy  would  prevail.  Four  or  five  periods  stand 
out  prominently  from  the  rest  of  the  quarter- century  as 
special  seasons  of  terror  and  persistent  attempts  to  crush 
the  “praying  ones,”  as  the  Christians  were  called,  viz., 
the  years  1837-38,  1840,  1842,  1849,  and  1857. 

The  First  Malagasy  Martyr  was  a  young  woman  named 
Easalama,  who,  on  August  14,  1837,  after  enduring  severe 
torture,  calmly  knelt  down  and  received  the  spear  of  the 
executioner  at  Ambohipotsy,  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  long  and  lofty  rocky  ridge  on  which  the  capital  is 
built.  Several  others  afterwards  suffered  death  in  a 
similar  way  at  the  same  spot,  and  many  of  their  com¬ 
panions  were  imprisoned.  Others  were  punished  by  heavy 
fines;  others  by  the  loss  of  “honours”  or  military  and 
civil  rank ;  many  were  sold  into  slavery,  and  some  were 
banished  to  the  nnhealthy  fever  districts. 

In  the  year  1840,  nine  Christians  were  speared  at 
Ambohipotsy,  and  numbers  were  scattered  over  the  country 
hiding  for  their  lives.  Similar  punishment  was  inflicted 
again  in  1842,  at  which  time  also  many  perished  from 
the  tangena  poison  ordeal.  Closely  following  this  time 


MABAGASGAE. 


27 


of  terror,  that  is,  in  the  year  1843,  some  respite  was 
allowed,  for  meetings  for  worship  were  almost  openly  held 
near  Antananarivo  ;  and  such  fervour  and  courage  were 
shown  by  many  of  the  preachers  that  numbers  of  heathen 
became  Christians.  Probably  this  was  to  a  certain  extent 
due  to  the  influence  of  the  Prince  Kakoton-dEadama, 
who  was  baptized,  as  well  as  another  member  of  the  royal 
family;  as  was  also  the  son  of  the  Pi’ime  Minister, Eainiharo, 
himself  a  most  determined  persecutor.  The  exalted  posi¬ 
tion  of  these  new  adherents  enabled  them  in  some  measure 
to  jmotect  their  humbler  companions. 

Great  Persecution  of  1849. — But  the  relief  thus  afforded 
was  not  of  long  duration.  In  1849,  the  increasing  bold¬ 
ness  and  number  of  the  Christians,  and  the  spread  of  their 
opinions  among  the  persons  of  high  rank  just  mentioned, 
led  to  a  great  outbreak  of  cruelty,  so  that  that  year  was 
remembered  as  “the  Great  Persecution.”  On  the  28th  of 
March,  nineteen  Christians,  who  had  been  condemned  to 
death,  witnessed  a  good  confession  before  many  witnesses 
with  heroic  fortitude  and  even  with  joy.  Of  this  number 
fifteen  were  taken  to  the  summit  of  the  cliffs  named 
Ampamarinana,  only  a  short  distance  from  the  palace, 
on  the  west  side  of  the  city  hill.  There  they  were  (with 
one  exception)  successively  thrown  over,  after  persistent 
refusal  to  deny  Christ,  and  their  mangled  bodies  were 
taken  to  be  burned  at  Fiiravohitra,  at  the  summit  of  the 
northern  end  of  the  city.  At  this  spot  a  more  painful  death 
was  reserved  for  the  remaining  four,  who  were  of  high  rank. 
Being  Andrians,  or  nobles,  it  was  by  Malagasy  usage  con¬ 
sidered  unlawful  to  shed  their  blood,  and  so,  by  a  refinement 
of  cruelty,  they  were  sentenced  to  be  burned  alive.  This 
terrible  fate  they  met  with  unflinching  courage,  singing 
some  of  their  favourite  hymns  and  praying  for  their 
persecutors,  so  that  a  deep  impression  was  produced  upon 
the  crowds  of  heathen  spectators. 

Visits  of  Rev.  W.'  Ellis. — This  time  of  trial  was  again 
followed  by  a  period  of  comparative  freedom  from  active 
persecution.  The  influence  of  the  young  prince  seemed 
to  increase ;  and  it  was  again  and  again  reported  that  the 
Queen  was  intending  to  abdicate  in  his  favour,  and  that 
the  laws  against  Christianity  would  be  relaxed.  So 
circumstantial  and  probable  did  these  accounts  appear,  that 


28 


MADAGASCAB. 


the  Directors  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  at  length 
determined,  in  1853,  to  send  out  one  of  their  number  to 
Madagascar  to  make  personal  inquiry  into  the  truth  of 
the  statements.  Accordingly,  in  that  year  the  Kev.  W. 
Ellis  left  England  for  Tamatave  as  the  representative  of 
the  Society.  Up  to  that  time  Mr.  Ellis  had  never  seen 
Madagascar,  for  his  mission  life  of  eight  years  (1817 — 
1824),  had  been  spent  in  Polynesia.  He  subsequently 
filled  the  office  of  Foreign  Secretary  to  the  Society  (1832 
— 1841),  ditring  which  time  he  edited  the  Ilistori/  of 
Madagascar,  which  was  compiled  from  information  supplied 
by  the  first  missionaries.  He  was  therefore  to  a  certain 
extent  already  familiar  with  the  country,  and  deeply  in¬ 
terested  in  the  welfare  of  its  people.  Taking  as  his 
colleague  from  Cape  Town  Mr.  Cameron,  of  the  former 
mission,  Mr.  Ellis  proceeded  to  Tamatkve,  but  was  unable 
to  get  permission  to  go  up  to  the  capital  city,  and  soon 
found  that  there  was  little  prospect  of  any  immediate 
improvement  in  the  position  of  the  praying  people.  But 
although  prevented  from  accomplishing  the  chief  object  of 
his  visit,  he  was  able  in  a  qitiet  way  to  give  encouragement 
to  the  native  Christians,  and  to  distribute  assistance  to 
those  who  had  suffered  loss  of  property ;  he  also  supplied 
them  with  numerous  copies  of  the  Scriptures.  Mr.  Ellis 
retired  for  a  time  to  Mauritius,  and  after  a  few  months’ 
interval  made  a  second  attempt  to  gain  permission  to  pro¬ 
ceed  to  Antananarivo,  but  again  without  success.  He 
however  visited  part  of  the  east  coast  of  Madagascar,  north 
of  Tamatave,  and  gained  valuable  information  of  various 
kinds  ;  and  then,  in  1855,  returned  to  England. 

But  before  Mr.  Ellis  reached  home  letters  had  been  sent 
from  the  Malagasy  Government  giving  him  permission  to 
come  to  the  capital  for  a  month’s  visit.  This  invitation 
he  gladly  accepted,  and  again  left  England  for  Madagascar 
in  1856,  arriving  at  Antananarivo  in  August.  He  was 
received  with  much  courtesy  by  the  Queen  and  the  autho¬ 
rities,  but  found  himself  kept  under  strict  surveillance, 
and  soon  discovered  that  the  laws  against  Christianity 
were  in  no  way  relaxed,  although  just  then  they  were  not 
enforced  with  special  severity.  After  seeing  much  to  interest 
him,  and  being  able  to  communicate  with  many  of  the  lead¬ 
ing  Christians  during  the  month  which  had  been  allowed 


madagascah. 


29 


for  his  stay,  Mr.  Ellis  left  the  cajiital  in  September, 
arriving  in  England  in  the  following  January.  Although 
these  “three  visits  to  Madagascar"  did  not  accomplish 
all  that  had  been  hoped,  they  were  not  without  valuable 
results.  They  were  a  source  of  much  encouragement  to 
the  persecuted  people,  assuring  them  of  the  continued 
remembrance  and  sympathy  of  Christian  England ;  and 
they  kept  alive  an  intense  interest  in  Madagascar  among 
the  churches  at  home,  and  led  to  increased  prayer  on  its 
behalf. 

Persecution  of  1857. — Mr.  Ellis  had  not  long  left  Mada¬ 
gascar  before  the  last,  and  in  some  respects  the  most 
severe,  outbreak  of  persecution  occurred.  This  was  largely 
provoked  at  its  outset  by  a  plot  which  had  been  formed  to 
depose  the  Queen  and  put  her  son  upon  the  throne.  This 
was  contrived  by  some  French  residents  in  the  country, 
who  had  ingratiated  themselves  with  the  young  prince, 
and  hoped  to  derive  considerable  personal  advantage 
should  he  come  to  the  supreme  power,  as  well  as  to  largely 
increase  French  influence  in  the  country.  And  with  these 
leading  motives  there  was  doubtless  also  mingled  some 
kindly  feeling  towards  the  people  in  general,  who  were 
ground  down  by  oppression,  and  to  the  Christians  in  par¬ 
ticular,  whose  position  was  the  most  burdensome  of  all. 
But  the  plot  was  not  destined  to  succeed ;  and  upon  its 
discovery  swift  punishment  fell  upon  its  originators.  The 
foreigners  concerned  were  sent  down  to  the  coast  by  such 
slow  marches  that  it  was  evidently  hoped  they  would  die 
by  fever.  But  the  Malagasy  who  were  in  any  way  ac¬ 
quainted  with  the  attempt  were  soon  put  to  death,  and 
among  them  were  some  few  Christians,  who  had  certainly 
known  of  the  scheme,  and  had  no  doubt  hoped  for  some 
alleviation  of  their  position  should  it  succeed.  These 
however  were  only  a  few  of  the  many  Christians  who  tlicn 
sutfered.  All  were  held  to  be  more  or  less  involved  in  a 
guilty  knowledge  of  the  designs  against  their  sovereign, 
and  one  more  determined  attempt  was  made  to  crush  for 
ever  the  hated  religion,  whose  adherents  were  constantly 
increasing  in  numbers  and  influence. 

The  3rd  of  July,  1857,  on  Avhich  a  great  kahanj  was 
held,  was  another  day  of  terror  ;  all  suspected  persons 
were  imprisoned,  twenty-one  were  put  to  death  by  stoning 


30 


MADAGASCAli. 


and  were  afterwards  belieaded ;  others  were  hurled  over 
the  Ampamarinana  cliffs;  many  died  by  the  tangena  ordeal ; 
and  it  was  thought  that  this  was  the  most  fatal  of  all  the 
persecutions  yet  inflicted.  Besides  the  extreme  punish¬ 
ment  suffered  by  these,  numbers  were  put  into  chains 
and  reduced  to  slavery ;  and  the  experiences  of  the  Chris¬ 
tian  people  for  several  years  might  be  fitly  described  by  the 
words,  “Cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  bonds  and  impri¬ 
sonment,”  stoning,  sawing  asunder,  wandering  about, 
“  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented,  in  deserts  and  mountains, 
and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth,”  for  all  this  was  literally 
fulfilled  in  Madagascar.  After  the  persecution  of  1857, 
there  was  little  of  stirring  interest  in  the  history  of  Mala¬ 
gasy  Christianity  until  the  death  of  the  Queen,  which 
did  not  occur  until  four  years  more  had  elapsed.  The 
sovereign  and  her  advisers  probably  felt  by  that  time 
the  utter  uselessness  of  all  their  attempts  to  put  down  the 
Christian  religion,  and  no  very  active  measures  of  re¬ 
pression  were  again  resorted  to. 

Causes  of  the  Persecution. — It  may  be  well  to  note  here, 
in  a  few  words,  some  of  the  principal  causes  which  led  to 
the  persecution  of  Christianity  in  Madagascar.  (1)  Fore¬ 
most  among  these  was  the  enmity  of  the  unrenewed  heart 
to  the  moral  purity  inculcated  by  the  gospel,  and  to  the 
restraints  which  it  put  upon  the  evil  practices  which  were 
formerly  unrebuked.  (2)  Then  there  was  probably  some 
degree  of  sincere  belief  in  the  idols  and  the  various 
heathen  customs.  All  these,  it  was  seen,  could  not  exist 
together  with  Christianity,  which  claimed  absolute  sit- 
premacy ;  and  therefore  it  was  deemed  necessary  that  the 
latter  should  be  destroyed.  Although,  as  mentioned  in  a 
previous  page,  there  was  no  heathen  priesthood,  pro¬ 
perly  so  called,  there  was,  nevertheless,  a  considerable 
number  of  people,  such  as  the  idol-keepers,  the  diviners, 
the  declarers  of  fortunate  days,  and  others,  who  formed  an 
influential  class  of  the  community,  and  it  was  of  course  to 
their  interest  to  prevent  the  further  spread  of  the  new 
doctrines.  (3)  Motives  of  a  political  nature  also  came  in 
(as  already  mentioned),  for  instead  of  the  old  absolute 
obedience  of  her  subjects  in  every  matter  which  the  Queen 
wished  to  enforce,  it  was  seen  that  the  new  religion  stead¬ 
fastly  maintained  that  there  was  One  above  the  sovereign 


MADAGASCAH. 


31 


who  claimed  to  be  supreme,  and  demanded  even  her  obe¬ 
dience  to  His  commands.  (4)  Closely  connected  with  the 
foregoing,  it  was  also  perceived  that  the  spirit  of  Chris¬ 
tianity  was  opposed  to  the  slavery  of  mind  and  body  which 
a  despotic  Government  claimed  from  its  subjects,  and  that 
the  freedom  of  thought  and  speech  which  it  encouraged 
eventually  led  to  freedom  of  action,  and  would  put  an  end 
to  irresponsible  power.  (5)  Hopes  were  entertained  that 
instruction  in  various  manufactures,  especially  those  of 
arms  and  gunpowder,  might  be  obtained  from  certain 
Frenchmen  then  in  the  country,  who  would  do  all  this 
without  also  imparting  religious  instruction.  And  there 
was,  besides,  some  fear  that  the  English  might  endeavour 
to  obtain  territory  in  Madagascar,  as  it  was  known  they 
had  done  in  India,  South  Africa,  and  other  parts  of  the 
world.  (6)  Grave  offence  was  given  to  the  heathen  by  the 
greater  moral  purity  of  the  Christians,  and  especially  by 
the  chastity  of  their  women,  which  prevented  the  grati¬ 
fication  of  the  evil  desires  of  people  in  high  position.  (7) 
To  all  these  may  be  added,  the  love  of  money.  As  a 
considerable  share  of  the  property  of  those  condemned 
fell  to  the  informer,  this  was  a  powerful  motive  in  causing 
numbers  of  the  people  to  assist  in  opposing  Christianity. 

Results  of  the  Persecution. — But  notwithstanding  all 
these  powerful  forces  arrayed  against  the  religion  of  Jesus, 
despite  all  the  cruelties  which  an  absolute  sovereign  and 
her  heathen  subjects  could  inflict  for  more  than  twenty- 
five  years,  “  the  Word  of  God  grew  and  multiplied.”  It  is 
believed  that  above  two  hundred  Christian  people  laid 
down  their  lives  during  that  quarter- of- a- centimy,  and 
many  hundreds  more  suffered  in  loss  of  rank,  property, 
and  liberty  ;  and  yet,  at  the  close  of  the  period,  the 
number  of  believers  in  Christ  was  not  only  not  diminished, 
but  had  multiplied  about  twenty-fold,  so  that  of  that  time 
it  might  be  said,  “  so  mightily  grew  the  Word  of  God  and 
prevailed.”  Persecution  bad,  moreover,  a  remarkable 
effect  in  rooting  and  establishing  Christianity  in  Mada¬ 
gascar.  Perhaps  nothing  else  would  ever  have  given  it 
s\ich  a  depth  and  power  as  it  thus  obtained,  and  nothing 
else  could  have  so  thoroughly  convinced  the  people 
generally  of  its  supernatmul  origin,  as  the  way  in  which  it 
overcame  every  attempt  of  their  sovereign  to  destroy  it. 


32 


BIADAOASCAR. 


Persecution  also  diffused  Christianity  widely,  for  the 
Christians,  obliged  to  take  refuge  in  distant  parts  of  the 
island,  carried  to  many  remote  places  the  knowledge  of 
the  gospel.  Amongst  other  noticeable  features  in  the 
religion  of  the  Malagasy  of  that  time  was  the  forgiving 
spirit  always  shown  towards  their  jpersecutors ;  there 
was  an  earnest  wish  that  their  Queen  and  all  who  opposed 
the  religion  of  Christ  should  themselves  partake  of  its 
blessings.  And  there  was,  on  the  other  hand,  a  frequent 
acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  judges  and  authorities 
that  the  conduct  of  the  Christians  was  irreproachable,  that 
they  would  have  been  the  best  subjects,  the  best  servants, 
but  for  their  religion. 

Political  State  of  the  Country  during  this  Period.— The 

reign  of  Eanavalona  I.  was  hardly  less  burdensome  to  the 
people  at  large  than  it  was  to  the  Christian  portion  of  the 
community.  Desolating  wars  were  carried  on  with  cold¬ 
blooded  cruelty ;  the  Government  service  was  most  op¬ 
pressive  to  all  ranks  ;  the  greatest  indifference  was  shown 
to  human  life  and  suffering  by  the  authorities  ;  and  even 
in  the  early  part  of  the  Queen’s  reign  a  frightful  number 
of  executions  took  place,  many  of  the  most  painful  forms 
of  death  being  inflicted — burning  alive,  scalding  to  death, 
etc.  Europeans  were  excluded  as  much  as  possible  from 
the  country,  so  that  more  than  once,  for  many  months, 
almost  all  intercourse  with  the  outer  world  was  suspended, 
and  but  for  the  leaven  of  education  and  Christianity  which 
had  been  introduced  into  the  country,  the  island  would 
have  reverted  to  a  barbarous  condition.  But  towards  the 
middle  of  1861,  the  dark  cloud  which  had  so  long  lowered 
over  the  country  rolled  away  ;  the  long  reign  of  tliirty- 
three  years  came  to  an  end  (Aug.  15th),  and  amidst  uni¬ 
versal  rejoicings  the  Prince  Eakoto  succeeded  to  the  throne 
under  the  title  of  Eadama  II. 

Here,  then,  closes  the  second  period  in  the  history  of 
Malagasy  Christianity,  that  of  its  Persecution,  and  it 
enters  upon  the  third  (and  present)  stage  of  its  history,  in 
which,  as  we  shall  see,  it  was  to  make  wonderful  Progress. 

Note  on  Malagasy  Words. — The  consonants  are  mostly  pronounced 
as  in  English  :  g  is  always  hard,  s  never  like  z.  The  vowels  a,  e,  and 
i  (also  =  final  y)  are  as  in  French  or  Italian  ;  o  is  like  Fr.  ou,  or  as  o 
in  “move.”  The  unaccented  vowels  are  shorter  than  the  others. 


MABAGASCAFi. 


33 


Y.—THE  PEOGEESS  AND  EXTENSION  OF  THE 

GOSPEL. 

(1862—1880.) 

From  the  re-estahlishment  of  the  London  Missionary 
Society’s  mission  in  Antananarivo  in  1862,  until  the 
present  time,  the  history  of  Christianity  in  Madagascar 
has  been,  on  the  whole,  one  of  continual  progress  and 
advance,  especially  Avithin  the  last  ten  or  ele\'en  years. 

Re-establishment  of  the  Mission. — The  news  of  the 
death  of  Queen  Eanavalona  had  not  reached  England 
many  days  before  the  tried  friend  of  the  Malagasy,  the  Eev. 
W.  Ellis,  was  again  on  his  Avay  to  the  country  as  the  re¬ 
presentative  of  the  London  Missionary  Society,  charged 
Avith  the  duty  of  re-organizing  the  mission.  Mr.  Ellis  could 
not  proceed  at  once  to  Madagascar,  on  account  of  the  rainy 
season  ;  but  staying  at  Mauritius  for  a  feAV  months  he  Avas 
able  to  communicate  frequently  Avith  the  native  Christians, 
assuring  them  of  the  warm  interest  felt  in  their  Avelfare  by 
their  English  brethren,  and  of  the  speedy  re-establishment 
of  the  mission  in  their  midst.  On  Jane  16,  1862,  Mr. 
Ellis  arrived  at  Antananarivo,  where  he  received  a  most 
hearty  welcome  from  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  found 
three  large  congregations  meeting  on  the  Lord’s  day  in  the 
north-west  suburb  of  the  city.  Within  afeAv  days’  time  he 
Avas  joined  by  three  ordained  missionaries,  a  medical  mis¬ 
sionary,  a  printer,  and  a  schoolmaster,  Avho  Avere  soon 
actively  engaged  in  acquiring  the  language  and  arranging 
to  proceed  Avith  their  special  departments  of  labour.  To 
these  pioneers  Avere  added  in  the  folloAving  three  or  four 
years  nine  or  ten  more,  several  of  whom  came  specially  to 
carry  on  church  building. 

Reign  of  Radama  II. — For  some  little  time  after  the 
accession  of  Eadiima  II.  it  appeared  as  if  the  bright 
anticipations  raised  by  his  coming  to  the  throne  Avould  be 
realized.  There  was  a  release  of  all  political  prisoners, 
includiug  of  course  the  Christians  who  had  been  in  chains, 
and  an  immediate  lightening  of  the  heavy  burdens  under 
Avhich  the  people  were  oppressed.  But  it  soon  became 
too  evident  that  there  were  evil  influences  at  work  which 
Avould  neutralize  all  the  good  which  had  been  the  imme¬ 
diate  result  of  the  new  reign.  And  notwithstanding  much 

3 


34 


MADAGASCAR. 


that  was  amiable  and  attractive  in  the  King’s  character, 
he  was  not  only  not  a  Christian,  but  was  addicted  to  the 
grossest  vices;  and  rejecting  the  counsel  of  older  and 
wiser  men,  he  allowed  the  government  of  the  country  to 
be  carried  on  by  a  number  of  young  men  who  were  his 
companions  in  his  amusements  and  follies.  It  was  a  time 
of  the  greatest  license  :  continual  feasting  went  on  at  the 
palace ;  the  Customs  duties  were  given  up,  so  that  rum 
was  poured  into  the  country,  to  the  great  increase  of 
drunkenness ;  and  every  one  seemed  able  to  do .  as  he 
pleased.  At  last  things  came  to  a  crisis:  the  obstinate 
persistence  of  the  King  in  promulgatmg  a  new  law  which 
would  have  virtually  given  up  the  country  to  anarchy  and 
civil  war  obliged  the  Prime  Minister  and  the  Commander- 
in-Chief  to  take  decisive  measures.  The  army  was  marched 
into  the  capital,  and  after  futile  attempts  to  induce  the  King 
to  listen  to  reason,  his  evil  counsellors  were  speared,  and 
eventually  he  was  also  put  to  death  in  his  palace  on  May 
12,  1863  ;  and  so  sadly  ended  the  reign  begun  with  such 
bright  prospects  not  two  years  before. 

Accession  of  Queen  Rasoherina. — These  events,  however, 
had  little  adverse  effect  upon  the  position  of  Christianity. 
Eadama  was  succeeded  by  his  wife  and  cousin,  Rabodo, 
who  took  the  name  of  Rksoherina,  and  was  put  upon  the 
throne  with  something  like  constitutional  safeguards. 
Although  the  new  sovereign  was  a  heathen  she  was  no 
persecutor ;  she  was  kind  and  humane  in  disposition,  and 
faithfully  adliered  to  the  agreements  she  made  with 
foreign  powers  that  religious  freedom  should  be  continued 
to  her  people.  During  her  reign  of  five  years  (1863-1868) 
Christianity  made  steady  and  solid  progress  and  wonder¬ 
fully  increased  its  influence  in  the  country.  It  was,  on 
the  whole,  a  healthy  time  for  quiet  development  and 
advance,  for  the  gospel  had  “  a  fair  field  and  no  favour,” 
and  the  progress  it  made  was  not  in  any  way  owing  to 
governmental  influence  on  its  behalf. 

Steady  Advance  of  Christianity. — During  those  five 
years  the  numerous  village  congregations  around  the 
capital  city  were  arranged  in  districts,  each  having  its 
mother-church  and  centre  of  influence  in  one  of  the  eight 
strong  churches  of  Antananarivo  ;  the  preaching  of  the 
gospel  was  earnestly  carried  on,  and  a  system  of  regular 


MADAGASCAR. 


35 


Bible-class  instruction  arranged ;  from  the  press  issued  a 
constantly  increasing  amount  of  literature  ;  schools  were 
established  in  connection  with  all  the  larger  churches, 
and  teachers  for  these  were  put  in  training  at  the  Normal 
School.  A  commencement  was  also  made  in  training 
preachers  and  pastors  for  the  native  churches.  The  medi¬ 
cal  department  of  the  mission  became  a  valuable  auxiliary 
to  its  work  :  a  Hospital  and  Dispensary  alleviating  many 
of  the  diseases  of  the  people,  while  a  number  of  young 
men  received  education  in  medicine  and  surgery.  Sub¬ 
stantial  buildings  of  sun-chied  brick  were  erected  for  many 
of  the  congregations,  and  the  construction  of  four  stone 
churches  was  commenced.  These  were  designed  to  be 
memorials  of  those  who  died  for  Christ’s  sake  in  the  per¬ 
secution,  and  were  built  on  the  spots  where  the  chief 
martyrdoms  took  place,  each  position  being  a  most  admir¬ 
able  one  for  a  public  building.  The  reign  of  Queen 
Eiisoherina  was  also  marked  by  much  improvement  in.  the 
political  and  social  condition  of  the  country,  the  conclusion 
of  treaties  of  friendship  and  commerce  with  England  and 
France,  the  revival  of  trade,  many  advances  in  civilization, 
the  lightening  of  the  heavy  burdens  of  Government  service, 
and  general  contentment  and  peace  throughout  the  island. 

Accession  of  Queen  Ranavalona  11. — But  in  the  early 
part  of  1868  the  Queen,  who  had  been  in  failing  health  for 
some  months,  passed  away,  and  her  cousin  Eamoma  suc¬ 
ceeded  her,  taking  as  her  royal  name  that  of  her  aunt. 
Queen  Eiinavalona.  For  a  brief  interval  this  was  regarded 
as  ominous  of  some  change  for  the  worse,  but  it  was  soon 
perceived  that  it  was  intended  to  denote  changes  in  the 
other  direction,  and  that  considerable  advances  were  to 
be  made  in  the  recognition  of  Christianity.  During  the 
reign  of  Queen  Easoherina  the  principles  of  the  gospel 
were  quietly  permeating  and  influencing  all  ranks  of  native 
society  in  the  capital  and  its  neighbourhood,  so  that  the 
Government  felt  that  they  could  no  longer  ignore  the  power 
growing  up  in  their  midst.  They  knew  that  the  young  and 
intelligent  portion  of  the  community  were  coming  over  to 
the  side  of  Christianity,  and  that  they  would  be  left  behind 
and  lose  prestige  if  they  allowed  the  movement  to  go  on 
without  taking  part  in  it.  They  therefore  wisely  resolved 
to  place  themselves  at  its  head. 


36 


MADAGASCAR. 


Public  Recognition  of  Christianity. — This  resolve  was 
soon  put  into  action.  At  the  coronation  of  the  new  sove¬ 
reign  on  Sept.  3,  1868,  no  idols  were  allowed  to  be  brought 
out ;  but  on  the  canopy  over  the  Queen’s  throne  the  many 
thousands  of  spectators  saw  with  astonishment  words 
taken  from  the  Christian  Scriptures,  “  Glory  to  God,” 
“Peace  on  earth,”  “Good  will  to  men,”  “God  is  with 
us  ;  ”  a  large  copy  of  the  Bible  lay  at  the  Queen’s  right 
hand,  and  in  the  royal  speech  was  more  than  one  quota¬ 
tion  from  the  Word  of  God,  exhorting  the  people  to  up¬ 
right  conduct  and  obedience  to  the  laws.  A  new  departure 
in  policy  was  thus  inaugurated.  About  the  same  time 
also  the  Queen  and  her  husband,  the  Prime  Minister,  com¬ 
menced  divine  worship  in  one  of  the  royal  houses,  and 
sent  for  some  of  the  native  pastors  to  give  them  regular 
instruction  in  the  truths  of  Christianity.  After  a  few 
months  they  received  baptism  in  the  presence  of  a  number 
of  the  chief  people  of  the  country.  This  event  naturally 
caused  many  of  the  higher  classes  to  come  forward  and 
join  the  ranks  of  the  Christians,  and  led  to  large  accessions 
to  the  congregations  in  the  clixjital  and  the  more  important 
villages  in  its  neighbourhood.  But  a  few  months  later  in 
the  year  another  event  took  j)lace  which  gave  a  still  more 
powerful  impetus  to  the  already  advancing  movement  in 
favour  of  Christianity,  and  removed  at  one  stroke  all 
external  obstacles  to  it  in  the  central  provinces  of  the 
island.  This  was  the  burning  of  the  idols  in  the  month 
of  September,  1869. 

Burning  of  the  Idols  in  Imerina.— The  immediate  cause 
of  this  was  the  folly  of  the  idol-keepers,  who  requested 
leave  to  perform  certain  superstitious  ceremonies.  The 
Government  resolved  to  strike  a  decisive  blow,  and  immedi¬ 
ately  sent  out  to  the  chief  villages  and  caused  the  idols  to 
be  burnt.  Within  a  few  days  the  charms  belonging  to 
tribes,  families,  and  individuals  throughout  Imerina  were 
gathered  together  in  the  j)rincix)al  villages  and  committed 
to  the  flames  ;  and  thus,  in  a  very  short  space  of  time, 
the  idolatry  of  the  Hovas  came  utterly  to  an  end,  and  to 
a  great  extent  that  of  the  Betsileo  as  well. 

Great  Extension  of  Christianity. — These  occurrences  had 
a  wonderful  effect  upon  the  people  of  the  central  parts  of 
the  island,  and  caused  a  very  large  immediate  increase  in 


MADAGASCAR. 


37 


the  number  of  those  who  attended  Christian  worship. 
Every  chapel  was  crowded  to  excess,  and  in  all  the  villages 
of  any  size  the  people  began  to  construct  rough  buildings 
of  mud  and  grass  or  rushes  in  which  to  meet  together. 
Many  of  these  congregations  had  no  one  to  instruct  them, 
sometimes  no  one  who  could  even  read  a  chapter  of 
Scripture;  but  still  they  met,  fearing  for  some  time 
that  they  would  be  considered  disloyal  if  they  did  not 
“pray.”  With  a  people  like  the  Malagasy,  accustomed 
for  so  long  to  follow  implicitly  what  their  rulers  wished  to 
be  done,  it  was  not  strange  that  such  notions  should  be 
entertained.  Still,  whatever  the  motives  were  which  led 
the  great  majority  of  these  new  adherents  to  put  themselves 
under  instruction  (and  they  were  often  low  and  unworthy 
enough),  there  they  irere,  ready  to  be  taught ;  and  the 
missionaries  who  w^ere  then  in  the  country  felt  almost 
overwhelmed  with  the  responsibility  thus  thrown  upon 
them  in  having  so  many  thousands  of  heathen  people 
looking  to  them  for  help  and  guidance.  But  vigorous 
efforts  were  made  to  cope  with  the  difficulties  of  the  new 
state  of  things.  As  a  temporary  measure  a  large  number 
of  the  best  men  that  could  be  found  in  the  stronger 
churches  were  sent  out  as  evangelists.  The  friends  of  the 
London  Missionary  Society  gave  liberally  to  increase  the 
mission  staff  to  treble  its  former  strength,  so  that  in  three 
or  four  years’  time  it  was  largely  reinforced.  A  college 
was  commenced  for  the  training  of  pastors  and  evangelists. 
Bible-class  instruction  was  actively  and  systematically 
carried  on,  as  well  as  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  not  only 
by  the  missionaries,  but  also  by  a  large  body  of  native 
preachers,  who  constantly  visited  the  country  congrega¬ 
tions.  The  training  schools,  the  press,  and  the  medical 
mission  also  took  their  own  special  share  of  the  increased 
work  thus  called  for.  How  great  this  work  was  may  be 
in  some  measure  realized  from  the  fact  that  while  in  the 
early  part  of  1869,  before  the  burning  of  the  idols,  the  adhe¬ 
rents  to  Christianity  numbered  about  37,000,  at  the  close 
of  1870  they  had  increased  to  about  a  quarter  of  a  million, 
while  the  congregations  had  increased  in  the  same  period 
between  four  and  fivefold  (from  148  to  621). 

Political  and  Social  Progress. — The  reign  of  the  present 
sovereign,  which  has  now  lasted  more  than  twelve  years, 


38 


MABAGASCAB. 


lias  not  been  marked  by  any  striking  political  events  in 
relation  to  tlie  outside  world,  although  many  changes  for 
the  better  have  been  going  on  in  the  country.  Friendship 
has  been  maintained  with  European  powers,  although 
more  than  once  there  have  been  slight  misunderstandings 
with  the  French,  owing  almost  entirely  to  the  intrigues  of 
the  Jesuit  missionaries.  About  two  years  ago  they  man¬ 
aged  so  to  influence  certain  local  governors  in  the  south 
that  by  bringing  false  accusations  against  some  of  the  Pro¬ 
testant  native  teachers  they  had  them  put  into  chains,  and 
so  stopped  for  a  time  much  of  the  work  in  the  Betsileo 
province.  But  the  intervention  of  some  of  the  Protestant 
senators  being  obtained,  the  Jesuit  scheming  was  rebuked 
by  the  French  Government ;  so  that  matters  are  slowly 
resuming  their  former  position.  About  four  years  ago  the 
friendly  influence  of  the  English  Government  was  employed 
with  the  Malagasy  authorities  to  induce  them  to  have  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  forbidding  the  importation  of 
African  slaves  more  strictly  enforced  ;  and  this  resulted  in 
the  emancipation,  not  only  of  the  slaves  brought  into 
Madagascar  since  the  date  of  the  treaty  (1865),  but  of  all 
Mozambiques,  as  they  are  called  ;  so  that  a  large  division 
of  the  slave  population  was  on  June  20,  1877,  formally 
and  publicly,  both  at  the  capital  and  many  other  places, 
declared  to  be  free.  This  event  cannot  but  have  consider¬ 
able  effect  in  drawing  the  attention  of  the  people  to  the 
injustice  of  slavery,  and  will  perhaps  eventually  lead  to  its 
entire  abolition.  Sudden  changes  in  this  direction  would 
however  be  disastrous  to  the  country  until  the  conditions 
of  society  can  be  adapted  to  a  new  order  of  things. 

Other  changes  in  the  social  condition  of  Madagascar 
have  been  quietly  carried  out  during  the  last  few  years. 
One  of  these  (July  4,  1878)  is  designed  to  improve  the  ad¬ 
ministration  of  justice,  by  the  appointment  of  a  large 
number  of  local  magistrates  throughout  Imerina.  These 
are  called  Sakaizam-bohitra,  lit.  “Friends  of  Villages,”  and 
they  are  also  registrars  of  births,  deaths,  marriages,  agree¬ 
ments,  etc.,  being  provided  with  the  necessary  books  and 
forms  for  the  piu’pose.  Another  measure  (July  13,  1876)  is 
intended  to  break  down  portions  of  the  old  feudal  system, 
by  which  the  people  of  high  rank  claimed  the  unpaid  service 
of  a  large  number  of  their  inferiors.  And  following  this 


MADAGASCAB. 


39 


there  is  also  a  further  centralization  of  authority,  and  the 
formation  of  a  kind  of  Cabinet  or  Ministry.  A  third  step 
in  advance  is  the  change  in  the  military  service.  This  was 
formerly  for  life,  and  without  any  pay,  but  was  altered  in 
May,  1879,  to  compulsory  service  for  five  years,  binding 
upon  all ;  and  will  thus  have  the  effect  of  materially  lighten¬ 
ing  the  most  oppressive  of  the  old  customs  of  the  country. 
One  of  the  greatest  benefits  that  Madagascar  could  have 
just  now  would  be  the  residence  of  an  upright  and  wise 
English  Consul  at  the  capital.  The  native  Government 
knows  that  England  has  no  designs  upon  the  country, 
and  has  never  coveted  a  foot  of  its  territory  ;  they  remem¬ 
ber  with  gratitude  the  valuable  services  which  Mr.  Hastie 
rendered  in  the  reign  of  Kadama  I.,  and  we  believe  they 
would  welcome  the  appointment  of  an  English  Consul  at 
Antananarivo.  Such  a  man  would  also  give  them  inform¬ 
ation  upon  international  law,  and  prevent  them  from  being 
sometimes  unnecessarily  apprehensive  of  the  designs  of 
France  and  its  power  to  interfere  with  them. 

In  the  year  1869  the  Queen  commenced  the  erection  of 
a  Chapel  Eoyal  in  the  courtyard  of  the  palace  at  Antanana¬ 
rivo,  so  as  to  give  the  most  unmistakable  proof  to  her 
subjects  of  her  attachment  to  the  Christian  religion.  The 
building  is  a  very  handsome  one,  of  stone,  with  an  elegant 
tower  and  spire ;  and  all  that  native  skill  of  hand  can  do  has 
been  used  to  beautify  the  building,  which  was  designed  by 
Mr.  W.  Poo] ,  of  the  London  Missionary  Society.  Its  opening 
was  delayed  for  a  considerable  time,  but  early  in  this  year 
(1880)  it  was  dedicated  by  an  extended  series  of  services, 
which  were  times  of  great  rejoicing.  The  church  meeting 
within  its  walls  is  a  Congregational  one,  and  its  services 
are  conducted  in  accordance  with  the  usages  of  that  section 
of  the  Church,  the  pastor  being  one  of  the  most  tried  and 
faithful  of  the  native  Christians. 

Advances  in  Civilization  and  Commerce. — Looking  back 
over  the  eleven  years  which  have  now  elapsed  since  the 
burning  of  the  idols,  and  the  general  profession  of  Christi¬ 
anity  by  the  people  of  the  central  provinces,  great  changes 
in  other  directions,  besides  those  already  noted,  are  very 
evident.  A  few  words  only  on  each  point  must  suffice  to 
mark  their  leading  features. 

And  first,  then,  with  regard  to  civilization  and  social 


40 


MADAGASCAR. 


advance,  and  trade  and  commerce.  The  gospel  has  come 
in  Madagascar,  as  everywhere  else,  raising  and  piu’ifying 
the  people,  increasing  the  comforts  of  human  life,  and  im¬ 
proving  their  dwellings,  their  dress,  and  their  habits.  Since 
the  re-opening  of  the  country  there  has  been  a  steady  in¬ 
crease  in  the  foreign  trade,  a  stimulus  has  been  given  to 
the  cultivation  and  collection  of  the  valuable  products  of 
the  island,  and  there  is  a  constantly  increasing  demand 
for  the  calicoes,  prints,  cloths,  and  hardware  of  European 
manufacture.  The  repeal  of  the  old  law,  closely  connected 
with  idolatry,  forbidding  the  erection  in  Antananarivo  of 
any  stone  or  brick  structure,  has  given  a  great  impetus 
to  building,  so  that  the  city  has  been  almost  rebuilt, 
hundi’eds  of  substantial  and  handsome  houses  of  sun-dried 
brick  replacing  those  of  timber  or  rush.  And  this  im¬ 
provement  has  extended  far  away  from  Antananarivo.  The 
erection  of  the  Four  Memorial  Churches  (1864 — 1874) 
trained  up  a  body  of  artizans — stonemasons,  builders,  car¬ 
penters,  tilers,  and  glaziers— skilful  in  the  building  arts. 

Improvement  in  Morals. — But  a  more  important  matter 
than  the  foregoing  is  the  improvement  in  public  morals  by 
the  shaming  out  of  much  of  the  gross  and  open  licentious¬ 
ness  of  former  times,  the  putting  down  of  the  practice  of 
polygamy,  and  the  restrictions  now  placed  upon  arbitrary 
divorce.  The  latter,  which  was  often  done  on  the  slightest 
grounds  after  an  absurdly  easy  fashion,  was  a  means  of 
much  cruelty  and  wrong.  It  must  now  be  done  according 
to  legal  forms  and  on  proper  grounds.  Polygamy,  after 
being  for  some  time  condemned  by  the  growing  enlighten¬ 
ment  of  public  opinion,  has  at  last  been  made  illegal  in 
the  central  provinces.  While  there  is  still  very  much  of 
evil  in  social  habits,  a  great  change  has  already  been 
brought  about  by  the  purifying  influence  of  the  gospel. 

Abolition  of  Cruel  Customs  and  Laws  belonging  to  the 
heathen  state  of  society  has  been  largely  effected  by  the 
kindly  and  merciful  spirit  of  Christianity.  The  Malagasy 
were  formerly  very  cruel  and  disregardful  of  human  life ;  the 
laws  prescribed  death  for  numerous  offences,  and  this  was 
inflicted  in  many  barbarous  ways.  Even  as  late  as  1868 
soldiers  were  burned  alive  for  trifling  military  offences,  and 
people  were  stoned  to  death  for  petty  thefts  in  the  markets. 
Noiv,  it  may  be  said  that  these  cruelties  have  passed  away; 


MABAGASCAE. 


41 


capital  punislmient  has  for  several  years  been  inflicted  only 
for  heinous  crimes,  and  this  only  in  the  most  merciful  form. 

In  the  Amelioration  of  War  some  of  the  most  striking 
results  of  Christian  teaching  have  been  manifest.  In  the 
wars  carried  on  to  reduce  other  tribes  to  the  Hova  authority 
the  most  horrible  cruelties  were  inflicted  upon  the  inhabi¬ 
tants  of  the  conquered  territories ;  the  men  were  speared  or 
shot  down  remorselessly,  and  the  women  and  children  taken 
as  slaves.  But  in  the  only  war  which  has  occurred  during 
the  present  reign — an  expedition  in  1874  to  put  down  a 
disturbance  in  the  Sakalava  country — the  Queen  gave  strict 
orders  to  prevent  the  needless  shedding  of  blood  ;  that 
property  should  be  respected,  and  no  slaves  be  made — that, 
in  short,  the  soldiers  were  to  remember  that  they  were 
Christians  and  not  heathen.  One  division  of  the  army  had 
to  attack  the  chief  stronghold  of  the  enemy,  and  a  few  lives 
were  thus  lost ;  but  the  other  succeeded  in  gaining  their 
end  entirely  by  peaceful  means.  The  New  Testament  was 
appealed  to  as  the  standard  of  conduct  by  which  the  Hovas 
wished  to  act ;  property  and  life  were  respected  ;  the  gospel 
was  regularly  preached  in  the  camp,  so  that  the  heathen 
people  of  that  district  heard  for  the  first  time  what  “the 
praying  ”  really  was ;  and  they  were  astonished  at  the 
change  which  the  profession  of  Christianity  had  brought 
about  in  their  Hova  conquerors.  Thus  peace  was  restored, 
and  the  army  departed  with  the  good-will  of  the  people, 
who  acknowledged  that  the  gospel  which  the  Hovas  pro¬ 
fessed  was  not  a  weakening  of  their  strength,  preventing 
them  from  fighting,  but  “  a  showing  of  mercy  !  ”  Of  course 
it  is  notmeantthat  thatarmy  was  all  composed  of  Christians, 
but  there  was  such  a  strong  Christian  element  in  it  that 
this  largely  influenced  its  conduct  as  a  whole. 

Education  has  made  great  advances  during  the  last  ten 
or  twelve  years,  and  the  Queen  and  Government  have  done 
their  utmost  to  urge  the  people  to  send  their  children  to 
the  schools.  These  are  now  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
village  throughout  the  Imerina  province,  and  to  a  consider¬ 
able  extent  also  among  the  Betsileo,  so  that  the  latest 
statistics  show  no  fewer  than  882  schools  in  the  country 
connected  with  the  London  Missionary  Society,  and  48,000 
children  in  attendance  ;  of  these,  25,000  are  able  to  read, 
and  there  are  also  the  same  number  of  adults  who  can  read. 


42 


AIADAGASCAB. 


The  number  of  schools  in  1868  was  only  28,  and  of  scholars 
1,700.  To  provide  qualified  teachers  for  all  these  thousands 
of  children  the  Normal  and  Training  Schools  have  a 
number  of  the  most  intelligent  lads  constantly  under  in¬ 
struction,  forty  youths  being  always  placed  there  by  the 
Government ;  and  efficient  aid  is  also  rendered  by  the 
excellent  high  schools  of  the  Friends’  Mission.  The 
London  Missionary  Society’s  College,  which  was  commenced 
in  1869  as  a  Theological  Seminary,  was  in  1876  developed 
into  a  general  College.  Its  object  is  twofold :  first  to  pre¬ 
pare  systematically  young  men  for  Christian  work  as  pastors 
and  evangelists  ;  and  further,  to  provide  a  liberal  education 
for  youths  of  superior  intelligence  who  are  likely  to  fill 
important  positions  in  the  government  of  the  country. 

Literature. — To  meet  the  increasing  desire  for  knowledge 
awakened  by  education  and  the  growth  of  a  reading  class, 
the  Press  of  the  London  Missionary  Society  (and  since 
1873  that  of  the  Friends’  Mission  also)  has  sent  forth  a 
constantly  augmented  stream  of  literature.  Among  these 
are  school-books  of  all  grades,  and  school  appliances  gene¬ 
rally  ;  catechisms  of  Bible  facts,  personages,  and  doctrines ; 
sermons,  sermon  outlines,  and  tracts  ;  Bible  lessons  ;  com¬ 
mentaries  on  several  of  the  books  of  Scripture ;  lives  of 
our  Lord,  the  Twelve, the  Apostle  Paul,  and  the  Patriarchs  ; 
introductions  to  the  New  and  Old  Testaments ;  manuals 
of  exegesis,  hermeneutics,  Biblical  criticism,  and  church 
history ;  a  Bible  handbook,  and  the  first  portions  of  a 
Bible  dictionary ;  a  series  of  handbooks  of  Logic,  Physical 
Geography,  Astronomy,  etc. ;  dictionaries  of  the  language, 
and  collections  of  the  Proverbs,  Kabary,  and  Folk-tales 
and  Folk-lore.  Several  periodicals  are  also  issued  and  have 
a  large  circulation  ;  these  are,  Teny  Soa  (“  Good  Words”), 
since  1866,  16  pp.  monthly;  Mpcmalo-tscuna  (“  The  Coun¬ 
sellor”),  since  1877,  70  pp.  quarterly;  a  Malagasy  form  of 
the  “  British  Workman,”  and  of  the  “  Children’s  Friend,” 
16  pp.  monthly.  (These  two  latter  are  published  by  the 
Friends.)  An  immense  number  of  reading  books  and 
lessons  have  been  distributed  all  over  the  country. 

Bible  circulation  has  been  a  marked  feature  of  the  last 
few  years,  and  several  large  editions  of  the  New  Testament, 
some  with  references,  have  been  bought,  as  well  as  great 
numbers  of  a  shilling  Bible.  Since  December,  1873,  a 


MADAGASCAR. 


43 


committee  has  been  at  work  revising  the  Malagasy  Scrip¬ 
tures. 

Increase  of  Mission  Stations  and  Districts. — Up  to  the 

year  1870  Antananarivo  was  the  sole  station  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society  (as  well  as  that  of  the  Friends’  Mission 
Association,  who  began  work  there  in  1867) ;  but  in  addi¬ 
tion  to  the  eight  churches  in  the  city,  there  were  in  1868, 
before  the  accession  of  the  present  Queen,  86  congregations 
in  the  country,  the  majority  of  them  within  a  few  miles 
of  Antananarivo,  but  some  at  considerable  distances  from 
it,  and  a  few  on  the  eastern  coast.  But  after  the  burn¬ 
ing  of  the  idols  and  the  great  increase  of  congregations 
it  was  felt  necessary  to  widen  the  sphere  of  the  Society’s 
work.  The  bid  capital  city  of  Ambbhimanga,  eleven  miles 
north  of  Antananarivo,  was  first  occupied  as  a  new  station 
(July,  1870) ;  and  within  a  month  or  so  Fianarantsoa,  the 
chief  town  of  the  Betsileo  province,  was  also  occupied. 
Since  that  time  seven  central  stations  have  been  formed 
in  Imerina  and  Vonizbngo,  N.W.  of  it,  and  three  other 
centres  in  Betsileo  ;  and  in  1875  more  distinctly  aggressive 
work  among  the  heathen  tribes  was  undertaken  by  forming 
a  station  among  the  Sihtoaka  (150  miles  to  the  N.N.E.), 
and  in  1877  by  commencing  work  among  the  Sakalkva  at 
the  important  seaport  of  Mqjanga  (N.W.  coast).  In  Novem¬ 
ber,  1880,  another  station  was  occupied  by  the  Loudon 
Missionary  Society  at  Tamatave,the  chief  port  of  the  east¬ 
ern  coast.  In  this  neighbourhood  a  considerable  number 
of  congregations  have  existed  for  many  years  (see  map). 

Church  Organization.— The  majority  of  the  Christian 
congregations  in  the  central  province  are  grouped  together 
into  districts,  each  having  its  mother-church  either  at  the 
capital  or  in  one  of  the  mission  stations,  and  presided  over 
by  an  English  missionary.  The  stronger  mother-church 
exercises  considerable  influence  over  these  village  or  “off¬ 
spring  churches,”  helping  them  in  their  church  building, 
school  work,  and  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  often 
preventing  by  its  advice  many  mistakes  into  which  they 
would  otherwise  fall.  The  churches  of  these  districts, 
which  vary  in  number  from  16  to  109,,  meet  together  at 
regular  intervals  of  three  or  four  months,  and  make  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  all  the  churches  in  connection  with 
them.  Besides  these  lesser  unions,  the  whole  of  the  Ime- 


44 


iVADAGASCAli. 


I’ina  churches  are  united  together  in  a  Congregational 
Union  or  General  Assembly,  meeting  twice  a  year  at 
Antananarivo.  The  largest  churches  are  densely  crowded 
with  representatives  of  the  congregations,  and  papers  are 
read  on  important  subjects,  followed  by  the  freest  discus¬ 
sion.  These  meetings  have  had  a  most  salutary  effect  in 
producing  an  enlightened  public  opinion  on  a  number  of 
points  connected  with  social  customs,  marriage,  education, 
worship,  church  discipline,  etc.,  and  in  promoting  a  healthy 
freedom  of  thought  and  speech.  The  ecclesiastical  system 
of  the  Malagasy  Church  is  therefore  neither  exclusively 
Independent,  or  Presbyterian,  or  Episcopal,  but  a  happy 
combination  of  all  these,  together  with  some  parts  of  the 
Wesleyan  system  in  the  large  use  made  of  lay  agency  or 
local  preachers.  It  has  been  the  result  of  no  fixed  plan  at 
the  outset,  but  is  a  natural  growth,  and  seems  well  suited 
to  the  people  in  their  present  stage  of  religious  life. 

Church  Buildings  and  Worship. — During  the  last  ten 
years  considerable  advances  have  been  made  in  the  pro¬ 
vision  of  suitable  buildings  for  Divine  worship.  Besides 
the  four  Memorial  Churches,  each  of  the  large  congrega¬ 
tions  in  the  capital  and  its  neighbouring  towns  has  a 
suitable,  and  in  seme  cases  handsome,  church  of  sun-dried 
brick  ;  and  throughout  the  province  the  majority  of  the 
rough  buildings  of  mud  and  rush  which  were  often  erected 
at  first  have  been  replaced  by  neat  and  substantial  struc¬ 
tures,  which  are  in  many  cases  models  of  what  a  village 
church  should  be.  Then*  lofty  tiled  or  thatched  roofs  now 
form  the  principal  object  in  the  villages,  and  are  conspicuous 
features  in  the  landscape  all  over  Imerina  ;  and  their  in¬ 
teriors  are  often  patterns  of  neatness.  The  worship  has 
also  become  more  orderly,  intelligent,  and  devout.  Instead 
of  the  pointless  talk  which  formerly  served  for  a  sermon, 
there  are  now  numbers  of  intelligent  and  earnest  preachers 
who  are  able  to  instruct  and  exhort  the  congregations. 
Many  of  these  men  are  fluent  and  effective  speakers,  and 
are  able  to  bring  all  the  resources  of  the  beautiful  native 
language,  to  illustrate  and  enforce  Divine  truth.  And  the 
psalmody  has  greatly  improved.  Large  numbers  of  rhyth¬ 
mical  hymns  have  been  composed,  many  of  them  trans¬ 
lated  from  those  of  the  American  revivalists,  and  set  to  the 
same  tunes;  these  have  been  learped  with  the  greatest 


MADAGASCAR. 


45 


delight,  and  have  now  spread  all  over  the  country.  The 
Tonic  Sol-fa  system,  which  has  been  mastered  by  hundreds 
of  the  young  people,  has  greatly  aided  in  this  movement. 

Christian  Life. — It  may  perhaps  be  asked.  What  is  the 
kind  of  Christian  life  which  is  found  among  the  Malagasy 
people  at  the  present  time,  and  how  far  have  they  advanced 
in  the  excellences  of  Christian  character  ?  It  is  not  quite 
so  easy  to  speak  confidently  on  this  point  as  it  is  with 
regard  to  those  many  signs  of  progress  in  other  directions 
already  described.  We  do  not  see,  so  much  as  we  long  to 
see,  the  deeper  and  fuller  signs  of  spiritual  life  among  our 
people.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  account  to  some  extent 
for  this,  because  the  Government  favour  shown  to  Christi¬ 
anity  naturally  leads  many  people  who  have  no  real  love 
for  it  to  outwardly  accept  it  and  join  the  ranks  of  its  ad¬ 
herents.  We  have  much  reason  to  thank  God  for  the 
personal  influence  of  the  Queen  ;  more  than  once  has  she 
in  simple  and  earnest  language  publicly  expressed  her  love 
for  the  gospel,  and  her  desire  that  its  blessings  should  be 
shared  by  her  people.  But  the  present  time,  it  is  easy  to 
understand,  is  not  altogether  a  favourable  one  for  the 
growth  of  some  of  the  excellences  of  Christian  character. 
Still  we  have  reason  to  believe  that  beneath  the  mere  out¬ 
ward  acceptance  of  the  gospel  by  so  many,  there  is  an 
increasing  number  of  God-fearing  and  Bible-reading 
men  and  women,  who  are  striving  to  live  godly  lives.  A 
purer  and  more  Christian  family  life  is  growing  up  ;  there 
is  an  immense  increase  in  knowledge  and  enlightenment ; 
there  is  a  growing  liberality  ;  and  there  are  numbers  who 
are  ready  to  work  and  to  speak  for  Christ.  During  the 
last  four  or  five  years  the  missionary  sympathies  of  the 
churches  in  Imerina  have  been  called  out ;  in  the  face  of 
much  discouragement  mission  efforts  have  been  persevered 
in,  and  several  earnest  Christian  natives  have  been  sent  to 
evangelize  some  of  the  heathen  tribes,  and  these  good  men 
have  in  most  instances  done  excellent  work  with  encour¬ 
aging  success.  We  must  also  remember  how  short  a  time 
it  still  is  since  the  great  majority  of  the  now  professedly 
Christian  people  of  Imerina  came  out  of  gross  heathenism. 
How  brief  a  time  ten  or  eleven  years  is  to  renew  society 
and  cleanse  it  from  the  vileness  of  heathen  customs  and 
practices  !  When  this  consideration  is  properly  weighed, 


46 


MADAGASCAR. 


instead  of  being  surprised  that  we  do  not  see  a  deeper 
spirituality,  we  may  rather  feel  astonished  at  the  wonderful 
progress  already  made  in  various  directions,  and  exclaim, 
“  What  hath  God  wrought !  ” 

A  common  misconception  about  Madagascar  may  be 
here  corrected.  The  island  as  a  whole  is  not  yet  Chris¬ 
tianized,  as  many  English  people  suppose.  Some  who 
heard  of  the  burning  of  the  idols  in  1869,  and  of  the  ac¬ 
ceptance  of  Christianity  by  the  Queen  and  Government, 
imagined  that  the  whole  country  had  come  under  the 
power  of  the  gospel.  But  they  forgot  that  Madagascar  is 
not  like  one  of  the  South  Sea  islands,  but  a  great  country 
nearly  four  times  as  large  as  England  and  Wales,  with 
numerous  tribes  widely  scattered  over  its  surface ;  and 
further,  that  until  1870  the  sole  mission  station  was  at  the 
capital  city ;  and  so  three-fourths  of  the  population  of  the 
island  are  stiU  uninfluenced  by  the  gospel.  But  in  addition 
to  its  influence  in  Imerina,  it  is  now  getting  hold  of  the 
Betsileo,and  gaining  an  entrance  among  the  Betsimisaraka, 
the  Sihimaka,  and  the  Sakalava.  And  there  is  abundant 
reason  for  hope  and  encouragement  from  the  fact  that  the 
Hovas,  in  the  centre  of  the  island,  the  most  enlightened, 
intelligent,  and  civilized  tribe,  as  well  as  the  rulers  of  the 
country,  are  now  largely  brought  under  the  influence  of  the 
gospel.  We  have  the  heart  of  the  country ;  having  Avon 
the  Hovas  and  Imerina  for  Christ,  we  have  made  a  great 
stride  towards  winning  the  whole  island  for  Him, 

VI.— LABOUKS  OF  EELIGIOUS  BODIES  OTHEE 
THAN  THE  LONDON  MISSIONAEY  SOCIETY. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  by  those  who  have  read  the 
preceding  pages  that  little  has  yet  been  said  of  the  labours 
of  any  society  in  Madagascar  besides  those  of  the  London 
Missionary  Society.  The  reason  of  this  is  simply  that 
the  great  bulk  of  the  work  hitherto  done  in  Christianizing 
and  enlightening  the  Malagasy  people  has  been  accom¬ 
plished  by  the  missionaries  of  that  Society.  They  planted 
the  gospel  in  Madagascar  by  unwearied  exertions  for  many 
years ;  some  of  them  visited  the  country  during  the  time 
of  the  persecution,  and  helped  by  theii’ personal  intercourse, 


3rADAGASGAE. 


47 


as  well  as  by  frequent  letters,  to  encourage  the  Malagasy 
Christians ;  and  they  re-established  the  mission  in  the 
heart  of  the  island  when  the  time  of  darkness  passed 
away  ;  and  so  it  naturally  happens  that  nine-tenths  of  the 
Christian  population  of  the  country  are  found  in  connec¬ 
tion  with  their  churches.  The  other  missionary  societies 
at  work  in  Madagascar  are  the  following  : — 

Friends’  Foreign  Mission  Association. — The  mission  of 
the  Society  of  Friends  was  commenced  in  1867,  and  for 
some  years  past  they  have  had  an  average  of  seven  or  eight 
missionaries,  male  and  female,  labomnng  chiefly  at  the 
capital,  and  also  at  a  station  to  the  south-west.  They 
have  paid  great  attention  to  education,  and  have  two  ex¬ 
cellent  training  schools  in  Antananarivo,  as  well  as  a  press, 
which  has  done  good  service  in  supplying  literature  for  the 
Malagasy.  They  have  charge  of  one  of  the  large  city 
churches,  and  an  extensive  district  stretching  away  many 
miles  in  a  south-west  direction,  including  about  120  con¬ 
gregations.  There  is  this  noticeable  feature  in  the  Friends’ 
mission  which  distinguishes  it  from  that  of  all  other 
missions  in  the  island,  viz.,  that  they  have  not  set  up  any 
separate  organization,  but  heartily  co-operate  with  the 
London  Missionary  Society’s  missionaries,  the  churches 
under  their  charge  being  really  one  with  those  under  the 
care  of  the  older  society.  Thus  a  true  Evangelical  Alliance 
exists,  minor  differences  being  almost  forgotten  in  impart¬ 
ing  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  while  a  united  front  is 
presented  to  the  forces  opposed  to  Christianity. 

The  Church  Missionary  Society  commenced  a  mission 
on  the  east  coast  of  Madagascar  in  1864,  and  three  earnest 
and  laborious  missionaries  did  a  good  work  for  several 
years,  taking  long  pioneering  journeys,  and  enduring 
many  perils  and  hardships.  But  in  1874,  in  consequence 
of  their  disapproval  of  the  action  of  the  Propagation 
Society  in  sending  out  a  bishop,  their  mission  was  with¬ 
drawn  from  the  island. 

The  Norwegian  Missionary  Society. — In  the  year  1866 
the  evangelical  Lutheran  churches  of  Norway  and  Sweden 
sent  out  two  missionaries  to  Madagascar  to  work  in  the 
heathen  districts.  These  brethren  were  eventually  in¬ 
creased  in  number  to  about  twenty,  their  labours  being 
chiefly  carried  on  in  the  country  between  Imerina  and 


48 


MADAGASCAB. 


Betsileo,  as  well  as  in  the  Betsileo  province.  They  have 
a  number  of  stations  in  these  portions  of  the  island,  and 
one  or  two  in  the  south-west,  among  the  Sahalava.  They 
have  also  a  representative  church,  a  training  institution, 
and  a  hosj^ital  in  Antananarivo. 

The  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  began  a 
mission  on  the  east  coast  in  1864,  there  having  been  <an 
understanding  that  the  Episcopal  societies  should  take 
the  east  coast  as  their  field  of  labour,  while  the  London 
Missionary  Society  continued  to  occupy  the  interior.  But  in 
the  year  1872  one  of  their  missionaries  commenced  work 
at  Antananarivo,  and  in  1874  a  bishop  came  up  to  the 
capital,  to  which  place  the  head- quarters  of  the  mission 
were  transferred.  They  have  six  or  eight  missionaries, 
several  schools,  a  children’s  hospital,  and  a  training  insti¬ 
tution  for  catechists  and  native  pastors. 

Koman  Catholic  Missions. — Eeference  has  already  been 
made  (p,  18)  to  the  early  efiorts  of  the  Eoman  Church 
in  Madagascar.  In  1861  the  capital  and  Tamatave  were 
occupied,  and  for  several  years  past  a  large  number  of 
priests,  lay-brothers,  and  sisters-of-mercy  have  been 
engaged  in  various  work.  The  mission  is  chiefly  carried 
on  by  Jesuits,  and  they  have  four  large  churches  in 
Antananarivo,  as  well  as  a  number  of  stations  in  Imerina. 
They  also  occupy  Fianarantsoa,  the  chief  town  of  the 
Betsileo,  and  many  positions  in  that  province,  as  Avell  as 
Tamatiive  and  other  places  on  the  coast,  including  the  two 
islands  which  France  has  taken  from  Madagascar — Nosibe 
and  St.  Marie’s.  They  do  little,  if  any,  aggressive  work 
upon  heathenism,  but  follow  up  Protestant  missionaries 
and  endeavour  to  make  proselytes.  With  a  superstitious 
people  like  the  Malagasy  they  find  a  congenial  soil  for 
many  of  their  own  practices,  and  they  even  claim  to  have 
performed  miracles  with  the  “  Water  of  Lourdes  !  ”  This 
mission  has  also  a  hospital  and  large  schools  at  Antana¬ 
narivo,  and  a  press  from  which  controversial  and  religious 
books  are  constantly  issuing.  Some  of  the  priests  have 
XDrepared  dictionaries  and  works  of  some  value  on  Mala¬ 
gasy  Grammar. 


NUMMARY  OF  THE  MORE  IMPORTANT  EVENTS 
IN  THE  MODERN  HISTORY  OF  MADAGASCAR. 

Date 

Discovery  of  Madagascar  by  Fernando  Soares  . .  Feb.  1,  1506. 
Accession  of  Kadama  I.  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  1810. 

Treaty  abolishing  the  Slave  Trade  concluded  ..  Jan.  14,  1817. 
P»ev.  Messrs.  Bevan  and  Jones,  first  Protestant 

Missionaries,  landed  at  Tamatave  . .  . .  Ang.  18,  1818. 

Mission  commenced  at  Antananarivo  by  Eev.  D.  Jones  Oct.  3,  1820. 

First  School  commenced  at  the  Capital  . .  . .  Dec.  8,  1820. 

Missionary  Artizans  arrived  at  Antananarivo  . .  May  15,  1821. 
Death  of  Eadama  I.  and  accession  of  Eanavalona  I.  July  27,  1828. 
First  Malagasy  Christians  baptized. .  ..  ..  May  29,  1831. 

First  English  Missionaries  ordered  to  leave  the  Country  June  8,  1832. 
Oreat  Kabary  forbidding  Christian  worship  and 

instruction  ..  ..  ..  ..  ..  Mar.  1,  1835. 

Last  English  Missionaries  left  the  Capital  . .  July  22,  1836. 

Easalama,  the  first  Christian  Martyr,  speared  . .  Aug.  14,  1837. 

Fresh  outbreak  of  Persecution,  many  killed  by  spearing  July,  1840. 
Eenewed  Persecution,  many  suffered  by  the  Tangena  ordeal  1842. 
“  Great  Persecution,”  fourteen  Christians  hurled  from 

the  rock,  and  four  burned  alive  at  Faravbhitra  *Mar.  28,  1849. 
Arrival  of  Eev.  W.  Ellis  at  Antananarivo,  on  a  month’s 

visit  .  Aug.  26,  1856. 

Attempted  Eevolution  through  French  influence,  and 

renewed  Persecution  . .  . .  . .  June — Sept.,  1857. 

Death  of  Eanavdlona  I.,  and  Accessiou  of  Kadama  II,  Aug.  15,  1861. 

Ee-establishment  of  Mission  in  the  Capital  . .  June  16,  1862. 

Eevolution ;  Death  of  Eadama  II. ;  Accession  of 

Easoherina  ..  ..  ..  ..  .,  May  8 — 12,1863. 

First  Memorial  Church  (Ambatonakanga)  commenced  Jan.  19,  1864. 
Mission  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 

Gospel  commenced  at  Tamatave  . .  . .  Aug.,  1864. 

Church  Missionary  Society’s  Mission  commenced  at 

Vdhimariua  (North-east  Coast)  ..  ..  Nov.,  1864. 

Anglo-Malagasy  Treaty,  also  securing  religious  liberty  June  27,  1865. 

Norwegian  Mission  commenced  .  Aug.,  1866. 

First  Memorial  Church  opened  .  Jan.  22,  1867. 

Mission  of  Society  of  Friends  commenced  at  Capital  June  1,  1807. 
Death  of  Easoherina  and  Accession  of  Eanavalona  II 
Baptism  of  Queen  and  Prime  Minister 
Foundation  stone  laid  of  Chapel  Eoyal  . .  . . 

Burning  of  royal  and  other  Idols . 

Fourth  Memorial  Church  (Ampdmarinana)  opened 
Kabdry  freeing  African  Slaves 
'Opening  of  Chapel  Eoyal . 


April  1,  1808. 
Feb.  21,  1869. 
July  20,  1869. 
Sept.,  1809. 
♦Mar.  28,  1874. 
June  20,  1877. 
April  8,  1880. 


Crown  8vo,  Tinted  Wrapper,  Is ;  Cloth,  2s. 

FAITHFUL  UNTO  DEATH: 

THE  STOEY  OF  THE 

Martyr  Church  of  Madagascar. 

By  Rev.  W.  Ellis. 

Illustrated  with  Numerous  Engravings,  from  Photographs  taken  in 
Madagascar  by  the  Author,  &c. 

The  Original  Edition  of  the  above  Book,  intituled 

THE  MARTYR  CHURCH  OP  MADAGASCAR, 

May  still  be  obtained.  One  volume,  large  crown  8vo, 
handsomely  printed  and  bound,  price  3s.  6d. 


“  Mr.  Ellis  has  done  his  work  well,  and  the  reader  hangs  over  his 
pages  with  tearful  eyes  and  breathless  interest.” — Eew  York  Observer. 

‘  ‘  Its  narration  of  the  progress  of  religion  in  the  island,  especially 
of  the  fearful  persecutions  and  the  noble  character  of  the  people  under 
them,  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  and  thrilling  narratives  of 
modern  Church  history.” — Sunday  Magazine. 

“We  question  whether  anything  more  wonderful  than  the  spread 
of  Christianity  in  Madagascar  has  happened — we  do  not  say  since  the 
age  of  the  Apostles — but  even  since  the  day  of  Pentecost  itself.  Mr. 
Ellis’s  book  is  a  deeply-interesting  record  of  that  history — a  narrative  I 
of  one  of  the  most  marvellous  triumphs  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  that 
the  world  has  ever  seen.” — Freeman. 

“A  work  which,  in  its  testimony  to  the  grace  of  God,  will  take  its 
place  with  the  Martyrologies  of  the  Primitive  and  Eeformation  eras.” 
— Record. 

“  The  narrative  is  very  instructive,  showing  how  the  protracted 
labours  and  sufferings,  hopes  and  fears,  of  half-a-century,  were  needful 
to  educate  a  people,  who  now  realize,  more  than  any  other  we  have 
read  of,  the  Scripture  expression — ‘  A  nation  shall  be  bom  in  a  day.’  ” 

— Edinburgh  Daily  Beview. 


London;  JOHN  SNOW  &  CO.,  2,  Ivy  L.vne,  Pateenoster  Eow. 


